By IANS
Mumbai : Police have provided security to the editorial and marketing offices of The Week magazine and Malayala Manorama newspaper here after alleged threats by activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
The threat came after MNS chief Raj Thackeray, nephew of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray, was portrayed as Hitler in the latest issue of the magazine that hit the stands Saturday.
“Hours later, four people claiming to be MNS activists barged into The Week’s Worli marketing office and threatened the skeletal staff present there with dire consequences,” said a senior employee of the magazine.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Brijesh Kumar Singh said precautionary security had been deployed outside the editorial departments of the publications at Fort in south Mumbai, the group’s marketing office at Worli and the distribution centre at Elphinstone Road. MNS commands substantial strength in these areas.
Brijesh Singh denied that the police were withdrawing bundles of the magazine from the market.
The cover article pertains to last week’s violence in Mumbai and features a caricature of Raj Thackeray as a modern day Hitler. The article also refers to a past statement by him admiring Hitler for his organisational acumen.
Staffers at The Week office said newspaper vendors had brought to their notice several instances of Mumbai Police picking up bundles of copies of the magazine from several parts of the city, including Kandivli, Kurla and Dadar areas.
T.R. Gopaalakrishnan, editor-in charge of The Week in Kochi, told IANS that the developments were surprising as there was nothing in the article that warranted such a reaction.
“We are in touch with our Mumbai office and closely monitoring the situation,” he said.
While The Week is headquartered at Kochi, Malayala Manorama is headquartered at Kottayam.
Last week, Thackeray had lashed out at the Hindi media for quoting him out of context during the recent disturbances in Mumbai. He had barred all non-Marathi journalists from covering his media conference.