Pune: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday dared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to come clean and confess before the public that building the Ram temple at Ayodhya is not possible for them.
“Since 1989, the party has been giving slogans for erecting a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Sena supremo Bal Thackeray had helped the BJP by evoking enthusiasm for the temple in Maharashtra. Yet, after all these years, why is the project still in limbo?” Mr. Thackeray said at a rally of Shiv Sainiks in the temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district.
The rally marks Mr. Thackeray’s start of campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “Why keep deceiving people on the Ram temple issue? Like all false promises of the Modi government, it ought to acknowledge that the one on Ram temple construction, too, is false.”
The Sena chief, whose visit comes on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Shirdi tour last week, said the PM only sought the blessings of Sai Baba to stay in power for the next five years. “I have no craving for position. I have prayed for the welfare of the public. Before my visit, someone else [Mr. Modi] had come to seek Sai Baba’s blessings, but what has he done with that? There has been no improvement in the situation of the common man and the poor in this country,” he said.
Mr. Modi had offered worship at Sai Baba temple during the closing ceremony of the Sai Baba Samadhi centenary celebrations. He had also handed over keys to houses to nearly 40,000 beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY- G).
Mocking Mr. Modi’s conversations with PMAY beneficiaries, Mr. Thackeray said the PM’s attempt to win hearts and minds by interacting with villagers in the vernacular language is a sham as people in the State have not benefited by the schemes of the BJP government.
“In many cases, beneficiaries are being tutored by the BJP government. But has the situation improved from what it was during earlier governments? The State has also been hoodwinking people with its farm loan waiver scheme,” he said.
The Sena president defended the party’s actions in criticising the BJP despite being part of the ruling coalition in the State and at the Centre.
“There are those who criticise why we [the Sena] do not pull out of this coalition in Maharashtra. To them I say if I can stay in the government and force the BJP to work for the public’s benefit, then why should the Sena exit?”
Mr. Thackeray said, “The people have voted for us as well as the BJP and I’m not going to turn tail and run. The Sena is going to make this government accountable to the people.”
Mr. Thackeray also addressed a rally in Ahmednagar district and is slated to speak to workers and party bearers in the Marathwada region on Monday.
