Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that residents of Barsu village in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district were being brutally attacked by the police for an Islamic oil refinery project from Saudi Arabia even as there was a Hindutvawadi government in the state.
Raut also claimed that there was no coordination between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the proposed refinery project.
His remarks come a day after the police used tear gas in Barsu and Solgaon villages in Rajapur tehsil to disperse the protesters who are opposing the refinery, and detained Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut. On Tuesday, more than 100 protesters, mostly women, were arrested for protesting against the project.
There is no coordination in the government. In the case of Barsu, the coordination is only between the Saudi Arabia company, an Islamic company and (there is) a Hindutvawadi government. For an Islamic oil refinery, Marathi manoos from Ratnagiri, the sons of the soil, are being attacked. This is their (the government's) Hindutva, Raut said.
The project, Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, was going to be Asia's biggest oil refinery, and was proposed to be built at Nanar village in Ratnagiri. It was supposed to be a joint venture between Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, and Saudi Arabia-owned Aramco and United Arab Emirates National Oil Company.