File photo

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday asked party workers to exercise restraint in dealing with trolls, a day after some party workers tonsured the head of a man for posting a derogatory message on social media against Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The man, in a Facebook post, berated Thackeray for comparing the police action on Jamia Millia Islamia students protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.

Some Sena functionaries later beat him up and tonsured his head outside his residence in suburban Wadala.

Reacting to it, Aaditya Thackeray, in a statement issued here, asked Sena workers to follow the chief minister.

"Calm, composed, aggressive about delivering promises and serving the people. Let's win people. Trolls lose anyway," said the Worli MLA who is the chief minister's son.

He said the Shiv Sena should focus on silencing the chaos, divisions, fear, hate by drawing a "longer line" that works for the people and keeps them united.

"Our answer is to create jobs and revive the economy," he pointed out.

The legislator said he got to know of the untoward and angry reaction to a "nasty, low life troll" who used uncivilized language against the chief minister's effort to maintain religious harmony and remove fear from Maharashtra about the new citizenship law.

"Law and order is a subject of police and shouldn't be taken by anyone into his/her hands. Answering trolls who are nasty, threatening and abusive should not be our job," Aaditya Thackeray said.

In a veiled attack on the BJP, the MLA said their behaviour has been rejected by democratic India in the recent elections and their retreat has been witnessed by the country.

"These are the same persons who threaten people, call them names and are social media lynch mobs," he said, without naming anyone.

