Uddhav Thackeray, a former chief minister of Maharashtra, lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday for criticizing his Shiv Sena unit for allying with the Congress. The president of the Shiv Sena (UBT) said that the Rashtriaya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP practice “Gaumutradhari Hindutva” and accused them of engaging in minority appeasement tactics while speaking at the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) joint “Vajramuth” rally in Nagpur.
“BJP spread “gomutra” (cow urine) near the location of the MVA rally in Aurangabad earlier this month.
The former Chief Minister said that they “could have swallowed some cow urine, they would have grown enlightened, our Hindutva is for nationalism.”
“There were a lot of Muslims at that event, and there are still a lot of Muslims there. Are they not human? I’m being accused of abandoning Hindutva because I allied myself with Congress. Do not Hindus serve in Congress? Gaumutradhari Hindutva is what they (the RSS-BJP) advocate, he stated.
Moreover, Thackeray questioned if it was acceptable for RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat to visit a mosque.
“Is this their Hindutva, reading the Hanuman Chalisa while also visiting mosques and listening to Qawali? Is this the Hinduism they practice by holding an Urdu “Mann ki Baat” in Uttar Pradesh? According to Thackeray, the core of our Hindutva is giving one’s life in service of the nation.
The former chief minister urged cooperation among the opposition to overthrow the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP administration and predicted that a replacement will materialize on its own. According to Thackeray, the BJP’s “addiction to power” is ruining the nation.
“All you have to do to start a revolution is hit the button on the EVM. To obtain freedom, revolutionaries and freedom fighters marched to the gallows. They didn’t care who would be president or prime minister. They gave their life to protect the nation’s citizens, not to install the BJP into power, he said.
“Why bother worrying about what the alternative will be? Someone will emerge, but we must promise that an unfair administration will not be tolerated. He continued, saying that PM Modi need to explain to the public what he has accomplished for the nation while in office.
People should be mindful of how religious concerns are used to divert attention from important matters, according to Thackeray.
While attempts for opposition unity continue, the former chief minister’s remarks on alternatives to PM Modi and his administration gain relevance. Rahul Gandhi and Congress national secretary K C Venugopal are set to meet with him shortly in Mumbai.
The former CM also questioned PM Modi’s silence about the Hindenburg Report on entrepreneur and billionaire Gautam Adani, as well as the alleged admissions of former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik.
US-based Hindenburg Research has accused Adani-owned companies of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
“Why are you disturbed if the Hindenburg report is not accurate? Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi Chief Minister) may now be imprisoned since Rahul Gandhi was disqualified, he claimed.
According to Thackeray, the Present administration in Maharashtra is doing well. He also said that the BJP couldn’t wait for the current government’s tenure to end before making a move to create the next one.
The former CM also attacked the BJP when Chandrakant Patil, a minister for that party, recently said that the Shiv Sena was unrelated to the Ayodhya movement.
“The BJP camp was in disarray when the Babri mosque was destroyed. Balasaheb Thackeray, the founder of the Shiv Sena, however, said that if a Shivsainik was engaged, he was proud, and he sought to know if the RSS shared Chandrakant Patil’s views.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde would have traveled to Ayodhya rather than Surat and Guwahati if he were a true “ram bhakt.” While he was chief minister, did Devendra Fadnavis visit Ayodhya? he questioned.
When Shinde and his supporting MLAs overthrew Thackeray in June 2022, they first traveled to Surat in Gujarat and Guwahati in Assam before coming back to Maharashtra.
In addition, Thackeray defended his previous comments in which he called Fadnavis “worthless,” claiming that despite his careful word selection, he did use the phrase because a female member of his party had been ruthlessly harassed for making a critical post about the administration on social media.
According to Thackeray, Union Home Minister Amit Shah often criticizes dynasties.
He remarked, alluding to the Maharashtra Bhushan award given to social worker Appasaheb Dharmadhikari, “but today he was in Mumbai to honor a dynasty working for the community.”
Thackeray added in reference to the enormous turnout at the “Vajramuth” event that while people were happy with the MVA government, it was overthrown via treachery and backstabbing, which is not accepted in Maharashtra.
The rally’s organizer was Congressman Sunil Kedar.
The gathering was also attended by former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, state congress leader Nana Patole, state nationalist congress party (NCP) president Jayant Patil, and former chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan.
When asked why he couldn’t attend the event, former chief minister Ashok Chavan tweeted that he had political activities in Nanded. Senior Congressman Nitin Raut, who is from Nagpur, was noticeably absent.
