Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party for criticising his faction for joining hands with the Congress and alleged that the RSS-BJP’s Hindutva is “Gaumutradhari Hindutva”.
Amid speculation of a split in the opposition coalition, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) put up a show of unity and strength in Nagpur on Sunday. Thackeray claimed that for the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Hindutva is about nationalism and sacrificing life for the country.
“On one hand they read Hanuman Chalisa and on the other hand, they go to mosques and listen Qawali, is this their Hindutva? They go and have ‘Mann ki Baat’ in Urdu in UP, is this their Hindutva? Our Hindutva is about sacrificing life for the country,” news agency ANI quoted Thackeray as saying at the rally.
“Every time I am accused that I went with Congress and left Hindutva, is there no Hindu in the Congress? There (RSS-BJP) Hindutva is ‘Gaumutradhari Hindutva,” Thackeray added.
Further mentioning that Hindutva is about nationalism, he said, “They recently sprinkled cow urine at the place in Sambhajinagar where we conducted our public meeting. They should have drunk some cow urine, they would have become wiser, our Hindutva is about nationalism.”
The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief also came down heavily on Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde for recently paying a visit to Ram Temple in Ayodhya while farmers in the state were suffering due to hailstorms and unseasonal rains.
“There was hailstorm and unseasonal rains in the state due to which farmers are in despair but the CM of the state went for darshan (to Ayodhya),” he said.
Slamming the ruling BJP government at the Centre, Thackeray said they are killing the ethos of democracy. In an obvious reference to Adani Group, Thackeray said that to the party, democracy is just to help its close associates.
“When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked questions about the functioning of the Modi government, his membership of Lok Sabha was cancelled and when Kejriwal questioned Modi on several issues, he may be put behind the bars any time,” alleged Thackeray.
(With inputs from ANI)
