‘Jobs lost, businesses shutting down’: Uddhav Thackeray’s caustic message

In a veiled jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that whether one accepts the current economic slowdown or not the problems of job and business losses persist.

“Whether there is economic slowdown or not we will see later but jobs are going, businesses are shutting down this is clearly visible and let us accept that,” Thackeray said in an interview to party mouthpiece Saamana.

In the second and final part of the interview to Sena leader and Saamana editor Sanjay Raut, Thackeray spoke on a range of issues, including its opposition to the car depot at Aarey Milk Colony in Goregaon, Mumbai, about issues in Centre’s crop insurance scheme, handling of the drought and flood-affected areas in Maharashtra, etc.

Watch: On the Campaign Trail with Shiv Sena’s Aaditya Thackeray

‘Won’t spare murderer of trees in Aarey’

Thackeray also attacked the state administration over the felling of trees in Aarey for a Metro car shed and said, “Babus who have murdered the trees will have to pay the price for it.” He said they are opposing the site of car shed and not the car shed. The Mumbai Metro felled 2,141 trees at the Aarey Milk Colony, known as the city’s green lung, before the Supreme Court stepped in to stop cutting of trees till further orders. The felling was preceded by massive protests by people

‘Vendetta politics’

The Sena chief said that vendetta politics should not be practiced, hinting at the use of investigating agencies such as Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against political opponents.

The 59-year-old leader said that vindictive politics has no place in Maharashtra. He was referring to the ED case against Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar. “If the government is acting with vengeance or with a mindset of vendetta [then] my firm opinion is that power and rights should not be misused and no one should practice vendetta politics... Honestly, this issue was not required before the elections,” he said. He also took on the Congress-NCP party for vindictive politics in case of Sena founder Bal Thackeray in 2000 over an editorial in Saamana written during the mid-1990s.

Maharashtra floods

When asked if the state government has lagged behind in providing relief to flood-affected people and the ones reeling under drought in parts of Marathwada, Thackeray did not answer directly. Instead, he spoke about climate change becoming an issue not just for Maharashtra but for the world. He said that lately the volume of rain received in a month is poured in a day.

The Sena chief is on Tuesday scheduled to address a traditional Dussehra rally in Shivaji Park in Dadar, Mumbai. He is expected to speak on various issues faced by the state. Traditionally, the Dussehra rally is where the Sena chief gives political messages to its cadre.