Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has accepted the invite to attend the idol consecration ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
Mr. Shinde was given the invite by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Ajay Joshi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Sanjay Dhavalikar, who met the CM at his residence in Thane on Monday.
Later, addressing a rally of his Shiv Sena faction cadre at Rajapur in Ratnagiri district (in the Konkan region), Mr. Shinde took aim at his detractors, particularly the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) by remarking that those who had mocked PM Narendra Modi for ‘failing’ to give a date for the opening of the Ram Temple had now been given a befitting reply as the PM had ensured that the Temple had not just been built but that a date too given for its consecration.
Also read: Ayodhya | Building a city around a temple
“The Opposition used to mock Mr. Modi, claiming that the PM only did empty talk about the Ram Temple… but he not only constructed the temple, but gave a definite date for its inauguration. This [Ram Mandir inauguration] is not a political issue, but a matter of pride,” Mr. Shinde said.
He further justified his revolt in June 2022 — which vertically split Uddhav Thackeray’s party and toppled the Thackeray-led MVA government — by alleging that the latter had tarnished his father, Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s, ideals.
“We took this decision when they started taking decisions against development and against Balasaheb’s ideals. If we had really taken the wrong decision, then would 40 MLAs, 13 MPs and so many people have joined us?” said Mr. Shinde, remarking that anything could have happened during his revolt and that he broke away from Uddhav Thackeray to preserve the Shiv Sena’s original ideals.
“More than power, our party’s ideology is important… We are legatees of Bal Thackeray’s ideals,” the CM said.
Mr. Shinde, who is attempting to shore up his party’s base in the Konkan belt, said that the people of the region would get justice in the true sense now that his government was in power.
Stating that Bal Thackeray had a special relationship with the people of the Konkan region, the CM said, “While it is true that the Shiv Sena was born in the Mumbai-Thane belt, it expanded in the Konkan region. If Mumbai and Thane constitute the body of the Shiv Sena, then Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg are its lungs.”
