... CM Manohar Joshi's assertion that he would resign rather than arrest Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray if such a directive frame from the Supreme Court, was as predictable as it is provocative. It may be seen as a sequel to his earlier intemperate remarks dubbing the Srikrishna Commission Report as "biased and one-sided", "pro-Muslim" and "anti-Hindu", while announcing his Government's summary rejection of it ... The Joshi administration has been brazen in its refusal to act on the political and moral implications of its unequivocal in the Mumbai riots of 1992-93. Not content with casting aspersions on the integrity of the judge, Mr. Joshi has now openly proclaimed as intention to abdicate his responsibility as an elected CM to abide by the rule of law.

As he undermines the dignity of the judiciary and  flouts democratic norms, Mr. Joshi also reflects the sorry compulsions of a Chief Minister on remote control ... His current defence of Thackeray ... is a self-serving attempt to play the loyal lieutenant to his embattled chief. It is also part of the cynical strategy that the Sena appears to have devised to cope with the negative fallout of the tabling of the Report - to justify the role of the 'Hindu Hriday Samrat' in a bid to consolidate the ... Hindu vote- bank for the next Assembly elections ... There is no escape from the political implications of the incendiary role played by the Sena and its chief during the sordid violence of 1992-93 ... The Maharashtra Government must acknowledge the futility of sheltering Bal Thackeray and his followers from the consequences of their indictment by the Srikrishna Report.