Mumbai: After the shameful act of a police officer during a protest in Shivaji Park Dadar in Mumbai came to light, the Mumbai Police has defended the constable Deepak and said that the video that has gone viral on social media is irresponsible. The officer did not intend to misbehave or flirt with the woman. When the officer went to arrest a man during the protest, the woman protester came in the middle and this is the video. After the investigation in this case, the senior officers of the police department have given a clean chit to the above-mentioned police officer after carefully examining the video footage. This is causing resentment among the citizens. The police have said in their denial statement that there is no mistake on the part of the constable who controlled the protesters. He did not touch the woman intentionally. It is certain that he was controlling the protesters.

In this case, advocate Nitin Satpute has expressed surprise at the clean chit given to the police constable and has appealed to the victim to register a case against the official himself. If a case is not registered in this case, he will approach the court to register a case. He said that the videos of violence against students in Mumbai and other places that are going viral are worrying. In this, many videos have also come to light that are based on extreme brutality. In one video, a constable is threatening to implicate two students in a false drug case, while in the other video, this shameful act of a police constable has come to light. After this video, many political leaders have also tweeted it and demanded action. While the police have given a clean chit to the constable in this case, this has also affected the image of the police department. This video has tarnished the Mumbai Police. The public is angry with the police’s behavior and is also surprised by the police’s latest stance that the constable is innocent and has done nothing wrong.

Mumbai, July 24: Facing existential threats due to the high-profile defections by six Lok Sabha MPs who joined the Eknath Shinde faction, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray is deploying a three-pronged approach to save the party, i.e. ideological reclaiming, issue-based youth mobilisation, and constitutional litigation.

Rather than playing defence after losing key party members, the Sena (UBT) is attempting to shift the political momentum back onto the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti/NDA coalition.

Thackeray has raised the issue of financial irregularities in the Shri Ram Temple donations by launching a statewide “Ram Raksha” campaign and a “BJP-free Ram movement.”

This is important as Hindutva has traditionally been the BJP’s sole ideological moat. By questioning the financial integrity of the Ram Temple movement and demanding accountability for donations (especially the silver bricks), Thackeray has targeted the BJP’s core voter base.

It forced the BJP onto the defensive on its home turf. Challenging the BJP in its ideological citadel of Nagpur, is designed to signal to traditional Sena voters that the UBT faction has not abandoned its core ideological roots despite political realignments.

Visiting Jantar Mantar, condemning the police lathi-charge on NEET paper leak protesters, comparing the government to Colonial rulers, and setting up free legal aid cells, Thackeray for a while has changed track beyond the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s traditional hyper-ethno-nationalist and religious appeal to retain relevance among younger, urban, and middle-class voters.

Joining student protests Uddhav Thackeray highlighted governance failures in education, exam integrity and state heavy-handedness. The comparison to Colonial rule and past democratic precedents like Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, aimed to frame the ruling alliance as autocratic, thus appealing to neutral and youth voters affected by systemic administrative failures.

While the SC declined an interim stay on July 22, 2026, obtaining show-cause notices against the Speaker, Secretariat, and rebel MPs keeps a legal sword hanging over the Shinde faction. Legally, it tests the boundaries of the anti-defection law regarding split vs merger provisions when an original party maintains its independent legal identity.

Politically, it framed the rebel MPs as opportunists who betrayed the public mandate under which they were elected. Historically, the split between Uddhav and Raj Thackeray fragmented the traditional Sena voter base in the Mumbai-Thane-Konkan belt.

Re-aligning with Raj Thackeray creates a formidable regional bloc. It consolidates the Marathi vote in upcoming civic body (BMC) and state-level contests, presenting a unified front that is difficult for national parties to divide.

While Thackeray’s aggressive posture has created immediate momentum, several vulnerabilities remain. The ongoing defection of elected MPs/MLAs undermines organisational stability at the constituency level, even if public sympathy favours the UBT faction.

Political observers said that balancing hardline Hindutva messaging through Ram Temple campaigns with broader social/youth issues and coalition politics requires careful calibration to avoid alienating either traditional nationalists or secular alliance partners.

Constitutional litigations in the Supreme Court often stretch over long periods. Without immediate legal stays, the political reality on the ground (recognised mergers) can become difficult to reverse practically before major election cycles.

However, Thackeray through his recent actions signals that his party is refusing to be sidelined into regional irrelevance. By combining ideological counter-attacks, constitutional challenges, youth mobilisation, and tactical regional unity, he is attempting to frame the broader conflict as a fight for democratic accountability and local identity against centralised power.

Mumbai, July 24: The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Friday said that following nationwide outrage and escalating protests regarding the NEET examination paper leak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally broken his silence on the issue.

Addressing the growing public anger, PM Modi stated that the interests and future of the nation’s students remain the government’s top priority and assured strict action against those responsible. “No individual playing with the future of students will be spared,” the Prime Minister asserted, promising the setup of fast-track courts to ensure swift justice and stringent punishment for the culprits.

However, the party, in an editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, sharply criticised the timing and mode of the Prime Minister’s announcement, noting that PM Modi chose to post his statement on social media platform ‘X’ rather than addressing Parliament or directly engaging with the protesting students.

The editorial said the announcement comes amid intense demonstrations led by students and environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi over the past two months. Protesters have faced police lathi charges while demanding accountability and systemic reform in the national examination system. “Protesting students have dismissed PM Modi’s assurances as a mere “bandage on a paper leak” and termed the promises of fast-track courts as “empty rhetoric”, it added.

“Had the PM demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan before announcing fast-track courts, his promises might have carried weight. Instead, none of this transpired, leaving his statements looking like mere “castles in the air”. The scepticism of the protesting students is justified; no one is confident the Prime Minister will deliver on his promise. Throughout his 12-year tenure, he has either maintained silence on critical national issues or undermined his own assurances,” commented the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

According to the editorial, critics and opposition voices have highlighted that despite reports of 152 paper leak incidents over the past decade during the Modi administration without significant action, it was only the 153rd leak — and the resulting nationwide fury — that forced an official reaction. The editorial raised several critical points regarding the administration’s handling of the crisis.

“The Prime Minister failed to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who holds primary responsibility for the ministry. While promising strict action against perpetrators, the administration has simultaneously imposed the National Security Act (NSA) in Delhi to curb demonstrations, drawing sharp criticism over its handling of public dissent,” said the editorial.

The editorial remarked that as public dissatisfaction grows over the ruin of millions of students’ and parents’ aspirations, critics are not sure whether these commitments will result in concrete reforms or simply remain unfulfilled promises.