Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and chief of Shiva Sena, on Wednesday hit hard on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and former ally the Bharitya Janta Party (BJP) over their Hindutva plank and misuse of slogan Bharat Mata Ki Jai for political purposes. The BJP has been unsuccessfully targeting Uddhav Thackeray for abandoning the Hindutva ideology after he formed Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress (INC).
Speaking in Maharashtra assembly, Thackeray said BJP’s parent body (RSS) was not a participant in the freedom struggle and did not have the right to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai. “Hence, only chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ does not prove your love for the country. You don’t have the right to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai if you are not going to give justice to people and if you are forcing farmers to protest on the streets,” he said.
He blasted the BJP for sharing for forming government with separatists in Kashmir and sharing power with them. “Didn’t your Hindutva get corrupted then?” he questioned. “How many displaced Kashmiri Pandits went back home? Don’t teach us about Hindutva, you are not qualified to do that,” he thundered in the Assembly.
Uddhav also exposed Narendra Modi government over the construction of Ram Mandir. He mocked the Modi government for not enacting a law to construct Ram Mandir for 6 years. “It became possible only due to the Supreme Court verdict,” said Thackeray.
On the issue of granting Bharat Ratna to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or the Vir Savarkar (Vir means brave, referred by Right Wing political parties and their supporters), Thackeray said “Letters were sent (to Modi Government) twice, seeking Bharat Ratna for Savarkar. Who confers Bharat Ratna? It is the right of the prime minister and a committee”.
He questioned the opposition party BJP who created roadblocks in Maharashtra’s proposal to rename the Aurangabad airport after Sambhaji Maharaj, the son of warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He challenged the BJP and vowed that Aurangabad will definitely be renamed to Sambhaji Nagar which was not done by the BJP when in power.
Thackeray also took on Home Minister Amit Shah for going back on his promise of a Shiv Sena Chef Minister, though it had been discussed by him and then BJP chief Amit Shah in the late Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray room. “Is this your love for Balasaheb? We don’t consider that room as a room, but it is a temple,” said Thackeray.
The Chief Minister also belittled Modi government for loosing Indian territory to China. Barbed wire fencing was erected for farmers along the Delhi border instead of erecting the same for the Chinese, he mocked.