mumbai

Updated: Jun 29, 2018 15:37 IST

The Shiv Sena on Friday made a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the proposed oil refinery at Nanar, Ratnagiri, in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, calling the government “autocratic” for trampling on people’s protests and forcing the project down their throats.

Likening the mega refinery project to Adolf Hitler’s concentration camps, the Sena said the project is a “gas chamber” that would destroy the houses, farmlands and livelihood of the people of Konkan.

The Sena, a key constituent of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, has opposed the refinery project, putting further strain on its shaky relationship with the BJP.

Prime Minister Modi should shut down the environment ministry at the Centre and the department in the states, the editorial said. “The project is being implemented despite strong opposition by locals, and if protests are being crushed, this is an Emergency-like situation. It is autocracy of the Modi-Fadnavis government,” the Sena said.

In the editorial, the party dared the BJP to go ahead with the implementation of the project and said the BJP would be “trounced” in the state. “The people of the region may have to deal with diseases such as cancer, asthma and other related illnesses due to the poisonous project,” it warned.

Earlier this week, Sena ministers in the Maharashtra government took objection to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Saudi Aramco for a stake in the planned refinery. Sena ministers protested that the BJP had kept them in the dark over the implementation of the project.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also snubbed petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan by denying him an appointment when he sought a meeting to discuss the concerns of those opposed to the project. “Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan signs MoU for the Nanar refinery project sitting in New Delhi and then rushed to Mumbai for support,” the editorial criticised.