BJP leaders did well to file cases against the makers of the Tandav web series but they would be “truly men” if they register cases also against Arnab Goswami who “insulted the martyrdom of Indian soldiers”, the Shiv Sena said on Thursday.

The Sena, an estranged BJP ally that heads the government in Maharashtra, also referred to allegations made after the February 2019 Pulwama attack “that the killing of our soldiers was part of a political conspiracy... to win the Lok Sabha elections”.

The Sena said that while the media creates a ballyhoo if someone is caught with 100 grams of ganja, it is not ready to hold a national debate on Goswami’s alleged act of treason.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana made these remarks in relation to the leak of purported WhatsApp chats between Republic TV managing director Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, then chief of TV ratings agency BARC.

Messages attributed to Goswami and written immediately after the Pulwama attack, which killed 40 CRPF jawans, gloat about the “only channel with a ground presence” and say: “This attack we have won like crazy.”

Another purported message from Goswami appears to suggest that one of the government’s objectives behind the Balakot operation was to gain popularity before the general election.

Several BJP leaders recently filed cases against Tandav’s makers alleging the political drama ridicules Hindu deities.

“It’s good that the BJP filed cases against the producer and director of Tandav in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But they (BJP leaders) will be truly men if the BJP files cases also against Goswami, who insulted the martyrdom of jawans,” the Saamana editorial says.

“The souls of the Pulwama attack martyrs will find peace if there is discussion also on Goswami’s treason.”