BJP behaved like a jilted lover, wasted Shiv Sena's 25 years, says Uddhav during massive rally

In a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray accused his party’s former ally of “sledging” and behaving like a “jilted lover”.

“They (BJP) just know how to engage in sledging….standing in slips, gully, silly point, they would sledge. They want to take the wicket of a set batsman. They want to disturb the batter,” Thackeray said addressing a mammoth rally at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

“They (BJP) are behaving like one-side lover….(if rejection) then, what happens. Throw acid and run,” he said, sounding the bugle for the ensuing corporation and local bodies polls. Thackeray reiterated that Shiv Sena has wasted 25 years with the BJP.

“They have been deploying A, B, C and D teams,” he said, referring to the MNS President Raj Thackeray’s loudspeaker issue, Independent MLA Ravi Rana and Amravati MP Navneet Kaur Rana’s Hanuman Chalisa issue and AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi’s visit to Aurangzeb’s tomb — though he did not name the leaders.

During his address, Thackeray lashed out at his predecessor and two-time Chief Minister and now Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, who has recently claimed that not a single Shiv Sena leader or worker was present when the Babri structure was brought down.

“He claimed that he was present when Babri was brought down…what was your age (then)? What are you speaking about? How much does he speak? If Devendra (Fadnavis) would have tried to climb Babri, it would have crumbled,” he said and asked him what he had done for Hindutva.

Lashing out for what he described as misuse of Central agencies, he said, “They are trying to create a fear by CBI, ED, IT.”

Thackeray, who heads the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in alliance with Congress and NCP, said that the party has not diverted from Hindutva. “Yes…we have gone with the Congress but that does not mean we have left Hindutva. You accuse us of going with NCP, but what about the early swearing-in ceremony with NCP? was that not a betrayal?” he said.

He said that the MVA government has sent a proposal for the restoration of eight old temples but the Archaeological Survey of India has put a roadblock. Without naming his estranged cousin Raj, he said, "Some people are roaming around wearing saffron shawls, copying Balasaheb (Thackeray). These people are nothing but the Munnabhai of movie ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ having chemical locha."

Referring to inflation, internal conflicts and attacks on Kashmiri Pandits, Thackeray asked, "Why don't you speak on these issues? This is not our Hindutva. You are just trying to distract the public and the country.”

“In his 1 May rally, Fadnavis made a mistake and confessed that he would 'free' Mumbai. We will not allow Mumbai to be separated from Maharashtra. There is a conspiracy to break Mumbai away. We will not allow it. It will never happen,” Thackeray said.

Thackeray also attacked BJP’s ideological parent RSS for the first time. “Your mother body the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has never been part of the freedom struggle. The Samyukta Maharashtra Movement was created by my grandfather (Prabodhankar Thackeray) and assisted by my father (Balasaheb Thackeray) and his brother Shrikant Thackeray. But you know who dropped out? The Bharatiya Jan Sangh,” he said.

"Kashmiri Pandit Rahul Bhat was killed in a government office. Extremists came and killed him. Will you read the Hanuman Chalisa there?” he wanted to know.