Reiterating his claim that Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) faction was the ‘phoney’ Shiv Sena, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday dared the ex-Chief Minister to take Hindutva ideologue V.D. Sarvarkar’s name in his speeches while remarking that the real Shiv Sena belonged to Eknath Shinde
Mr. Shah was addressing a rally in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg while campaigning for Bharatiya Janata Party leader and his cabinet colleague, Union Minister Narayan Rane, the ruling Mahayuti’s candidate for the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat in the Konkan region.
In his speech, Mr. Shah targeted Mr. Thackeray, who is the longstanding bête noire of Mr. Rane. Mr. Rane is pitted against Sena (UBT) chief and Thackeray loyalist Vinayak Raut, the incumbent MP of Ratnagiri which goes to polls in the third phase on May 7.
“If you are feeling embarrassed to take Veer Savarkar’s name in your addresses, why are you running this phoney [nakli] Shiv Sena? You may be Bal Thackeray’s son, but you cannot claim his Balasaheb’s legacy which lies with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, [former Shiv Sena leader and present MNS chief] Raj Thackeray and Narayan Rane,” Mr. Shah said, remarking that Uddhav Thackeray had completely abandoned his father’s ideals when he joined hands with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition.
“The person, who in order to preserve his CM’s chair, seeks refuge in Sharad Pawar and Rahul Gandhi cannot preserve Maharashtra’s pride,” Mr. Shah said.
Remarking that the Congress’ vote bank had now become Uddhav Thackeray’s vote bank, the Union Home Minister said Mr. Thackeray must clear the air before the public on whether he supported triple talaq, Muslim Personal Law and Article 370.
Mr. Shah lauded Mr. Rane as a leader who stood up to the alleged ‘harassment’ of Uddhav Thackeray, especially when the latter was CM of Maharashtra during the tenure of the MVA government.
“Narayan Rane has fought long against Uddhav Thackeray’s bullying,” Mr. Shah said.
Once known as the strongman of the Konkan belt, Mr. Rane, who had exited the (undivided) Shiv Sena in 2005 after his bitter fall-out with Mr. Uddhav Thackeray, had later joined the Congress. He subsequently quit the Congress in 2017 after which he joined the BJP.
One of Mr. Thackeray’s most strident adversaries, the relations between the two leaders, acrimonious at the best of times, had hit rock bottom in August 2021 (when Mr. Thackeray was Chief Minister) after Mr. Rane had remarked that he would have given Mr. Thackeray “a tight slap” for allegedly forgetting the number of years of India’s Independence during Uddhav’s Independence Day speech.
No less than five FIRs had been filed against Mr. Rane in different parts of the State, with the Nashik Police Commissioner issuing a warrant for the Minister’s arrest. Mr. Rane was taken into police custody and hauled before a local court in Raigad which finally had granted bail to the BJP leader.
The BJP, which has fielded Mr. Rane for the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat, is looking wrest the Konkan region which still has a significant number of Thackeray supporters.
Later, at a rally in Sangli in support of BJP candidate Sanjaykaka Patil, Mr. Shah again took aim at Mr. Thackeray, remarking that the latter must clearly state whether the Popular Front of India (PFI) ought to be banned and whether the Citizenship (Amendment) Act ought to be implemented.
“But, he [Mr. Thackeray] will not comment on such matters because of his new vote bank which had earlier supported Congress and NCP [alluding to the minority community]. This vote bank will not speak against Pakistan or hoist the tricolour in Kashmir,” Mr. Shah said.
Taking a jibe at the opposition INDIA bloc, the BJP leader dubbed them “an Aurangzeb fan club” while stating that only PM Modi and the BJP-led NDA alliance could make the country secure and prosperous.
Taking aim at the Congress alleged inefficacy in dealing with cross-border terrorism, Mr. Shah said: “Before 2014, Pakistan-based terrorists had a free run in India, but when terror attacks in Uri, Pulwama happened, Pakistan had forgotten that PM Modi was at the helm and not Manmohan Singh. It was PM Modi who conducted surgical strikes inside Pakistan and destroyed terrorist camps,” he said.
