Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday cautioned all political parties to “open their eyes”, in the wake of the Election Commission of India (ECI) allotting the Shiv Sena party name and its bow-and-arrow election symbol to the group led by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.
“What has happened to Shiv Sena, how we have been treated, can happen to you too. All parties should keep their eyes open and be cautious,” Thackeray said during an interaction with members of north Indian community at Andheri, his second in a week.
His remarks came two days after the poll panel delivered a big blow to Thackeray by recognising the Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena. Uddhav Thackeray’s father late Balasaheb Thackeray founded the party in 1966.
“You want my father’s face, but not his son. I was ready to come along. If you ditch me when I wanted to implement a promise given to my father, what should I do?” Thackeray said, targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for forcing him to break their alliance after the 2019 assembly elections.
“I never wanted to be a chief minister, but was asked by the Congress and NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) to take over because otherwise a government could not have been formed,” he said. “Had BJP honoured the commitment given, both Shiv Sena and BJP would have got their chief ministers for two-and-a-half years each.”
He further said: “I have left the BJP and not Hindutva. I don’t accept BJP’s Hindutva which divides people. The BJP is misleading Hindus, who are now awakened, by bringing issues like ‘hijab’ and cow slaughter during elections.”
Referring to a recent Hindu Akrosh Morcha in Mumbai, he added: “Why should Hindus make ‘akrosh’ when a powerful leader is ruling the country.”
The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief also took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah. He termed the central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the “wolves” of PM Modi.
Referring to Modi’s recent speech in Parliament, where he said how he alone had overwhelmed all the opposition, Thackeray said: “He sends his wolves like ED, CBI against the opponents and then claims he fights alone.”
Thackeray also targeted Shah, who had remarked “doodh ka doodh aur pani ka pani ho gaya (bring out absolute truth)” while referring to the ECI’s order allotting Shiv Sena party name and symbol to Shinde-led faction. “‘Mogambo khush hua’ on the Election Commission order,” he said, taking jibe at Shah, equating him to the villain “Mogambo” from Bollywood movie Mr India.
“Like Mogambo who wanted to rule the country by dividing people, Shah and his party are using the divide-and-rule policy in India,” claimed Thackeray.
Addressing the gathering of north Indians, he accepted there was a communication gap (between his party and people from north India) and assured the same will not be repeated in future. “Let’s unite together in the coming elections by keeping aside the difference of region-religion and language. I need your support to save Mumbai from the BJP, who wants to bankrupt the city so that Mumbai could become a slave of the Centre for financial assistance.”
When asked for a reaction on Thackeray’s comments at Shah and central agencies, Mumbai BJP leader Ashish Shelar said he did not want to speak about the former chief minister.
“There is no need to talk about Thackeray but he should think of the size of his party (whatever remains with him) before he speaks. Otherwise it will burst like the frog (which tried to compete with the bull),” said Shelar.