Will demolish edifice of Sena’s power: Fadnavis
Fadnavis attacked CM for action against Ranas and not paying heed to Owaisi’s tribute to Aurangzeb
HT Correspondent
MUMBAI: Lashing out at former ally Shiv Sena for abandoning Hindutva for the sake of power, leader of the opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis launched the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign for the polls and called on the people to vote out the Sena from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Reiterating that he was among those who were present at Ayodhya when the Babri Masjid was demolished i n December 1992, Fadnavis said he would similarly “demolish the edifice” of Sena’s power.
Fadnavis was speaking at a convention of Hindi-speakers in Goregaon on Sunday. In an obvious attempt to pitch the BJP as the true inheritor of the mantle of Hindutva, the rally began with the recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa. The polls to civic bodies across the state, including the BMC, are scheduled to take place later this year.
“You feel that you may have reduced my political weight by stabbing me in the back, but this Devendra Fadnavis will not stop till he pulls down your Babri-like edifice of power,” said Fadnavis, in a barb aimed at the chief minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.
“You were in a relationship with us for five years, sought votes in our name, yet took our wealth and married someone else… and then, you claim that we are unrequited lovers,” said Fadnavis, while referring to the Sena breaking up with them to join the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 2019. Fadnavis charged that Uddhav’s attacks on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and reluctance to rename Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar in memory of Chhatrapati Sambhaji were aimed at pleasing Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Fadnavis attacked Thackeray over independent lawmakers Navneet and Ravi Rana being booked for threatening to chant the Hanuman Chalisa outside Uddhav’s residence and All India Majlis E Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi paying respects at
the tomb of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. “Would Hindu Hriday Samrat Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray have ever thought that in the reign of his son, chanting the Chalisa would invite charges of sedition, and paying obeisance at the tomb of (Mughal emperor) Aurangzeb will be deemed to be the protocol?” questioned Fadnavis.
Referring to how Aurangzeb brutally killed Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in 1689, Fadnavis charged that the government remained a mute spectator as Owaisi went to his tomb to worship.
He charged Thackeray with eating humble pie to come to power with the Congress and NCP and taunted that “one cannot be a tiger by photographing tigers.” “Balasaheb Thackeray
was a tiger, but now in the country, there is only one tiger and his name is Narendra Modi,” claimed Fadnavis, amidst chants of ‘Modi, Modi’ from the crowd.
“The rally (held by Thackeray on Saturday) was touted as a master sabha (mega rally), but after listening to the entire speech, realisation dawned that it was a laughter sabha,” charged Fadnavis. He also attacked Thackeray and the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime for the metro railway works being held up, corruption in the BMC, mob lynchings of two sadhus at Palghar in 2020, and arrests of ministers Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik.
Denying Thackeray’s claim that the BJP wanted to sever
Mumbai from Maharashtra, Fadnavis said no one would dare to do so. Moreover, the Jana Sangh, which was the political predecessor of the present-day BJP, was part of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement that had called for the establishment of the state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as the capital.
Reacting to Fadnavis charges, Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP and spokesperson Arvind Sawant reiterated that the BJP had a hidden agenda of severing Mumbai from Maharashtra. “Aurangzeb’s tomb has been classified as a national monument. Owaisi had come there even in Devendra Fadnavis’ regime. The difference between fake and real Hindutva has been exposed,” he added.”