Lone Ranger Sanjay Raut Emerges As The First Voice Of Dissent To Modi Govt

In the post-Pahalgam scenario, while the entire Opposition had initially united in support behind the Narendra Modi government, Sanjay Raut turned out to be the first lone voice of dissent. Not content at just demanding Amit Shah’s resignation for his failure as home minister in preventing the Pahalgam attack, Raut also made snide remarks about state call for mock drills likening it to the call for banging of thalis during Covid. He also got his Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena to abstain from the all-party meet called on April 24. In the absence of Uddhav Thackeray, who is said to be vacationing in Europe, for which he earned some brickbats too for not cutting it short, it was left to veteran leader Sharad Pawar to tame him down. Pawar questioned his absence at the first all-party meet. Subsequently, Raut’s tune changed his tone. Not only did he turn up at the following all-party meet on May 8 chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Shah himself but also briefly muted his criticism of the Modi government. But this ceasefire too didn’t last long. He did a volte face on May 11; strongly demanded Shah’s resignation once again and even daring the PM to address an all-party meet. A considerably weakened Uddhav Thackeray, post the Sena split engineered by Eknath Shinde, is said to have given him a free hand. Despite being criticised, ridiculed and even despised for his daily-morning media bytes, earning him the sobriquet of “morning siren” , Raut has emerged as the lone ranger within his party, his alliance and even in the nation as the post-Pahalgam scenario revealed.