Uddhav slams BJP for playing ‘ugly politics’, ‘fake Hindutva’
MUMBAI: In his first public rally in Mumbai after becoming chief minister of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday launched a withering attack on former political ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying that the party was playing “ugly politics” and deployed “A, B, and C teams” to mislead the people of the state and the nation with “fake Hindutva”.
The rally kicked off Sena’s campaign for the local bodies polls later this year.
Addressing nearly 100,000 party workers from across the state, Thackeray took on the Bjpled Centre over issues like inflation and attacks on Kashmiri Pandits. “BJP is playing ugly politics,” Thackeray said, adding that he wondered if “it was the same party that the Sena considered to be a friend for 25 years”.
“We didn’t recognise them then, but they are not our friend but our enemy. After the mask of Hindutva has come off, their true and perverse face is exposed. We still wonder if they are the same who were kept close by Balasaheb,” Thackeray said.
Thackeray’s rally comes in the backdrop of criticism from the BJP and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray that the Sena has deviated from Hindutva ideology ever since it joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress to form the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government in November 2019.
Criticising the Centre for not coming up with concrete solutions for attacks on Kashmiri Pandits. “Rahul Bhat, the Kashmiri Pandit, was killed in his office. What is the solution in this? Chant Hanuman Chalisa or hold ghanta yatra? We are celebrating Amrut Mahotsav (75 years of Independence) of our Independence but the rupee is now at ₹77 (to the dollar). Why don’t you speak on these issues?”
Thackeray also took a dig at his cousin, MNS chief Raj Thackeray. “One day a Shiv Sainik asked me if I watched ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’. He said like in the movie Sanjay Dutt sees Gandhiji, we have a person here who thinks he is Balasaheb. He wears shawls, sometimes picks up Marathi issues, and Hindutva... This is a case of chemical locha (imbalance) in the brain...,” he said.
Referring to the recent political controversies in the state, Thackeray said the BJP has “A ,B ,C teams”. “They send somebody to Aurangzeb’s tomb, give loudspeakers to another and ask someone else to recite the Hanuman Chalisa. These are B-teams of BJP. If something happens, cases will be filed on [the teams] while [the BJP] will hold press conferences.”
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said Thackeray’s speech “turned out to be yet another taunt bomb…it will get reply.”