All hype, no show: What Sanjay Raut’s big ‘expose’ failed to do
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut is known for his flair, panache, and dialogue delivery. An accomplished orator and gifted public speaker, he is someone who can encapsulate and charm large crowds. At the same time, it is a no well-kept secret that the senior politician from Maharashtra also has a penchant for drama.
On Tuesday, Raut delivered (what he likes to call) a “no holds barred” presser at the Sena’s party headquarters in Dadar, where he was expected to reveal the names of three to four BJP leaders who he claimed will soon be in jail in the same cell where former home minister Anil Deshmukh is held while the latter will be out. It was an event that had been heavily publicised by him since Monday morning. “Presser at Shiv Sena Bhavan tomorrow at 4 PM,” he tweeted, along with the picture of a tiger baring its teeth.
Tuesday’s presser comes in the wake of a letter Raut had written to Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu last week, claiming that the Enforcement Directorate (ED), at the behest of the Centre, had tried to pressure and intimidate him into taking part in a plot to topple the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, with the aim of inducing a forced mid-term election in the state.
At the time, Raut had said that the letter “is not even a trailer.” He promised to reveal proof of the conspiracy within the coming days. “Once I am back in Mumbai, I will provide evidence about how the ED runs their criminal syndicate and how they have their own financial scams like money laundering as well as how they indulge in blackmail and intimidation tactics…,” he had said.
Hundreds of Shiv Sainiks, who had thronged Sena Bhavan to watch the highly-anticipated event on a big screen put up outside the party headquarters amidst a sea of saffron, as well as reporters, journalists, photographers, and party functionaries, expected Tuesday’s presser to be (what is popularly known in the entertainment biz) as “Opening night.” Regional news channels and newspapers ran build-ups to the event all morning and had a field day. At 9:35 AM, Raut further fed the media frenzy with some more fodder. He uploaded a charismatic picture of himself against the backdrop of the gold-and-white gate of Shiv Sena Bhavan, one arm behind his back and the other resting casually against his waist. “Jai Maharashtra,” read the caption.
NCP’s Supriya Sule added a spin of her own. While sharing the stage with BJP state president Chandrakant Patil on Tuesday morning, she said, “Let dada (Patil) do his publicity now; after 3 PM, Raut will take over all the channels,” she said.
Also read: Those harassing Shiv Sainiks will be dealt with after 2024, says Sanjay Raut
Call it uncanny timing or a well-thought-out plan, but just a little after Raut’s tweet on Tuesday morning, around 70 officials from the ED raided multiple locations across Mumbai in connection with a money laundering case against underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. It was based on a fresh case filed against the D-company syndicate by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) earlier this month, under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Sections of the media reported ED sources as saying that a property deal, allegedly involving a senior politician from Maharashtra, was also under scanner.
“We are not reacting to it (press conference),” a senior BJP leader from Mumbai told The Federal on Tuesday morning, in the prelude to Raut’s presser. Another said: “Whatever has to be said will be said by Chandrakant (Patil) dada.” It was evident that the BJP was on tenterhooks about what the senior Shiv Sena politician was going to come up with.
However, at the end of the hour-long press conference, during which the senior Shiv Sena leader casually indulged in some light profanities (not for the first time) and strong rhetoric, people were left scratching their heads and asking the question: “Who are the three to five BJP leaders you were talking about?”
During his address, Raut had named BJP’s Kirit Somaiya, his son Neil, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ “blue-eyed boy” Mohit Kamboj, and jailed businessman Rakesh Wadhawan, an accused in the PMC bank fraud, for their alleged involvement in financial irregularities. He spoke of a call he supposedly made to Amit Shah the day one of his “close aides” was “targeted” by the ED, and expressed his disappointment over the misuse of the central investigating agency. He stood tall and asserted that the Sena and Maharashtra government would not bow down before the might of the central government and its “tools” such as the ED and the CBI.
What people expected was hardcore proof of a conspiracy and straightforward answers as to who were the people that had approached him to “fix” the MVA government. Instead, what they got were the names of small fry like Kamboj and Neil Somaiya. In reality, Tuesday’s much-hyped presser was nothing but political rhetoric and a massive show of strength to boost the Sena’s ego amid a saffron sea of its supporters.
Also read: Some BJP leaders will be behind bars soon, claims Sanjay Raut
Standing with one leg inside his car while exiting the gates of Sena Bhavan—which was engulfed with scores of sainiks chanting slogans and cheering in the background—Raut beamed and waved at party supporters proudly for a few minutes. No doubt, he was proud of the massive show of strength that his sainiks had put against the alleged high-handedness of the BJP—that too on such short notice. Turning around to the camera of a local television news channel, he smugly said: “This is Shiv Sena. Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena.”
