Don’t form alliance with Raj, farmer leader Kishor Tiwari tells Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Veteran farmers’ leader and founder of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti Kishor Tiwari, who is part of the Shiv Sena (UBT), has shot off a letter to Uddhav Thackeray urging him not to go ahead with an electoral alliance with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray in the run up to Maharashtra local bodies elections.

According to him, an alliance with Raj Thackeray will not only negatively impact the Shiv Sena (UBT), but also the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Maharashtra.

Because of the degrading and humiliating treatment by MNS activists against non-Marathi-speaking people and their language against Muslims, the BJP-led Maha Yuti alliance is benefitting politically, he said.

Yavatmal-based Tiwari, who is a former Chairman of Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swabhlamban Mission of the Maharashtra government, brought the farmers suicide in Vidarbha in national and international fora.

Once a supporter of the BJP, Tiwari later joined the undivided Shiv Sena and later became part of the Shiv Sena (UBT) after the split in the party.

“Raj Thackeray...is running an agenda against non-Marathi people and Muslims in Maharashtra,” said Tiwari, who also wrote an open letter to Uddhav Thackeray on the issue.

“For the last 30 years, as a farm activist attached to grassroots movement, I have spent my entire life in the service of poor farmers, agricultural labourers, tribals, and minorities, and for the same reasons, you gave me the opportunity to work tying a Shiv Bandhan on my hand. The responsibilities given to me...I am fulfilling with full loyalty, of which you are the witness and all time admirer,” he said.

However, an outspoken Tiwari, in the letter to Uddhav Thackeray, pointed out: “The prime reason, as to why I am writing this open letter to you today is that it has been reported by media that our Shiv Sena and MNS led by Raj Thackeray are going to form an electoral alliance in the backdrop of the municipal and local body elections. I am writing this letter to you to tell you how this alliance is going to be disastrous for our Shiv Sena (UBT) in the days ahead and MVA in the long run.”

Tiwari said that Raj Thackeray has been continuously making statements against Hindi speaking non-Marathi and other linguistic minorities and Muslim citizens residing peacefully in Maharashtra by promoting linguistic provincialism.

Talking about the 2024 Vidhan Sabha polls, he said: “The Hindi-Muslim-Dalit and OBC voters have voted for the Shiv Sena (UBT). That is why, the party won 10 of its 20 seats from the Mumbai metropolitan region….as a soldier of Shiv Sena, I am writing this letter to you, considering it my duty to present this fact to you in a timely manner.”

According to Tiwari, the non-Marathi populace of Maharashtra, particularly in the urban pockets, are extremely upset, because of incidents of attacks and violence against them.

“I request you to take effective steps to stop the continuous statements against Hindi-speaking and other linguistic minorities and Muslim citizens and take timely measures so that the these big chunk of voters, who are the main backbone of MVA-INDIA bloc, do not go away,” he said and told Uddhav Thackeray that an alliance with MNS would be against national interest.