The Shiv Sena criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the growing number of incidents of violence being reported across the country, including in his home state Gujarat. The country is suffering from unstable governance and “Gujarat is burning”, while the “prime minister is roaming the world as a mascot of peace”, the Shiv Sena said, in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana. The Shiv Sena and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party are allies in Maharashtra.

“The BJP high command talks to those who favour Pakistan to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir, but has an ego problem speaking to his own people in Gujarat. This is not the indication of an able ruler,” the Shiv Sena said. Citing other examples of violence in the country, the Sena said Maoists are wreaking havoc in Chhattisgarh, peace and governance is under attack in Jammu and Kashmir, and anti-nationals were having a “gala time”, PTI reported.

The Saamna editorial further questioned whether it was right to have slapped “false charges of being an anti-national” against Hardik Patel, who had spearheaded the Patidar reservation stir in Gujarat before his arrest.