JOIN USUddhav gets aggressive, asks cadres to teach lesson to thieves
Standing under the open sun-roof of a car under the scorching, sweltering heat outside Matoshree amid heavy sloganeering, an emotional-but-charged-up Uddhav Thackeray sounded aggressive and asked his cadres to prepare for polls and teach the “chor” and “malik of chor bazaar” a lesson.
The massive show of strength on Saturday at the Kalanagar Junction in Bandra was a sort of teaser of what is in store in the days to come in Maharashtra politics.
The scene of Uddhav addressing from an open roof car immediately drew parallels with his late father Balasaheb Thackeray, when decades ago the late Shiv Sena supremo addressed a gathering in Mumbai standing on the roof of a car on 30 October, 1968 - a time when the party did not have a symbol.
“On the eve of Maha Shivratri, tomorrow is Shiv Jayanti….the Shiv-Dhanush has been stolen, the chor would be caught....go to polls and get the Shiv-Dhanush back….you all know the ‘chor’ (thief) you also know the 'malik' (boss) of ‘chor-bazar’…teach them a lesson,” Uddhav said lashing out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde - who had rebelled against him eight months ago - and the BJP.
“….the ‘short’ has pelted stone at the beehive, but he has not experienced the bite of honey bees,” he said and told his supporters to fight back with full strength and teach the Shinde-faction a lesson of their lifetime. “They will never be able to finish Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena,” he added.
Uddhav also took the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and lashed out at him. “They (Election Commission) have behaved like ‘gulam’ slaves…the Prime Minister’s ‘gulam’ has done it…probably they would get Governorship like the way we saw a few days ago,” he said.
“Today, Modi cannot get votes in his name …he has to take the mask of Balasaheb,” he said.
“They want the Thackeray name, they want the photo of Balasaheb, they want the symbol, they want the name but not the Shiv Sena family,” he said.
“The way the symbol ‘bow and arrow’ was stolen…they can take away mashaal….I will do a Facebook live, perhaps tomorrow, and tell you what the ECI asked and what all we provided,” he said.
Uddhav claimed that in the past there were similar disputes in the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the AIADMK, but never was the original party name or symbol given to the breakaway faction.
As he left for further meetings, Uddhav asked: “Are you scared? I have nothing in my hand now to give you” - but immediately the locality resonated with sloganeering - “Uddhav sahab tum aage bado, hum tumhare saath hai”.
“We shouldn't rest till we teach the thief a lesson in the elections. Begin preparing for elections immediately,’ he said.