Days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said that his party will thrash its former allies if a pre-poll alliance is not formed ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that one who could trounce his party was yet to be born.
Addressing the conference of Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti Mahasangh, a Sena-affiliated body, at Worli, Mr. Thackeray said, “I have heard words like patak denge (pin to the ground) from someone. One who will trounce the Shiv Sena is yet to be born. People boast a lot these days without doing any work and nobody is bothered about the country.” The Sena is an ally of the ruling BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at BJP national convention at New Delhi where he claimed that the Opposition wants a majboor sarkar (helpless government) and the country a majboot sarkar , (powerful government), Mr. Thackeray said he wouldn’t mind if the government is majboor but prefers a majboot country.
“Once you lose the confidence of people, you are bound to lose any battle. When people lose their confidence in you (BJP), they will pull you down from power. Votes will be sought through tears before elections. But If the government is sitting on our chest, then it will be thrown into the fire,” he said.
On the recent 10% quota Bill, Mr. Thackeray demanded that the ‘no income tax’ slab should also be raised to ₹8 lakh, from the ₹2.5 lakh at present.
Unlike the BJP, he said, his party has raised the Ram temple issue before the polls to “expose” those who use the issue as a poll plank.
“Tell us how the Congress is hindering the temple construction. The Congress was shown its place in 2014 for its deeds. It could not even get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha,” he said.
He also asked the BJP how it could build the Ram temple when it has allies like Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) and Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP opposing it. He said some BJP leaders were now calling the PM an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. “How come the incarnation of Lord Vishnu can’t get the Ram temple built,” he asked.
“You have a leader who talks about caste of our God Hanuman. If a similar thing had happened in another religion, people would have broken that person’s teeth,” he said. Mr. Thackeray said elections in future should be contested over the issues like god, country and religion.
