Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday launched a tirade against Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for his reported remarks, during an election rally, on Biharis contributing to Maharashtra's economy. Mr. Thackeray said this was an insult to Marathi people; Maharashtra was built by great leaders like Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Phule and Dr. Ambedkar. “I have no problems with Biharis but when Rahul Gandhi goes to Bihar why does he drag in Maharashtra,” he asked.
“Why doesn't he say how Bihar can be developed,” demanded Mr. Thackeray at a press conference. He said this anti-Maharashtra “poison” in Rahul was inherited from his grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, and quoted from a book titled “Reporting India” by Taya Zinkin, where Nehru has been heard as saying, “Maharashtrians were monkeys.. unfit to rule themselves.”
Mr. Thackeray posed a question to all leaders in Maharashtra — to the Chief Minister, to Sharad Pawar, and others — and wanted to know if they agreed with Mr. Rahul's sentiments. If Biharis were running Maharashtra, then why not dissolve the present government and elect a new one, he asked, without using electronic voting machines though. “Is Maharashtra full of fools and incompetent people that it needs Biharis?” he asked.
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The Congress should clarify on Mr. Gandhi's remarks, he said.