Hindutva isn’t about felicitating rapists: Aaditya Thackeray

Mumbai: Hindutva is not about felicitating rapists and then asking women across the state if they have received ₹1,500 under the Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MLA Aaditya Thackeray said on Wednesday while addressing a campaign rallies in the city in support of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates for the assembly polls.

Referring to the Bilkis Bano case, in which 11 men convicted of gangraping her and killing her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots were released in August 2022 and then felicitated by BJP and Rashtriya Swayamseval Sangh (RSS) leaders, he said, “Hindus don’t felicitate rapists and take them along for political rallies. BJP has done that. My grandfather, Balasaheb Thackeray, always said that irrespective of caste, creed or religion such people should be hanged till death. This is the real Hindutva.”

Thackeray attacked BJP over its proximity with industrialist Gautam Adani, saying, “Saibaba says sab ka maalik ek hai. BJP says sab ka maalik Adani hai.” He alleged that the Mahayuti government had given land in the city worth hundreds of crores to the Adani group for free, saying, “Adani is a demon in front of us to gobble up Mumbai. The Mother Diary plot in Kurla has also been given for free to the Adani group. Generations of you have stayed here, no one gets land in Mumbai for free. Mumbaikars pay taxes. Then why give the land for free to Adani.”

Once the MVA comes to power, it will say goodbye to Adani, Thackeray said, adding, “I don’t have any personal enmity against Gautam Adani. But he’ll have to listen to the people of Mumbai.”

The Worli MLA alleged rampant graft in the state government for postings and transfers of police personnel, officials and bureaucrats. He also reiterated that the Mahayuti government was responsible for numerous industries/ projects such as the Airbus-Tata aviation project and the International Finance Centre being shifted to Gujarat, leaving the youth in Maharashtra without jobs and employment.

“Each of India’s states should get investment. I am for it, but against snatching away investments from Maharashtra. There’s a chief minister and two half CMs. If some businessman goes to one, the second gets upset, if he/ she meets the second, the third gets upset. Such is not the case with the Maha Vikas Aghadi,” said Thackeray.

At the rally in Bharat Nagar in the Bandra Kurla Complex, Thackeray assured that once the MVA comes to power, it will get Bharat Nagar redeveloped through MHADA in the same way that BDD chawls in Worli were redeveloped through MHADA during the previous MVA government’s tenure.

Turning Mahayuti’s poll slogans – ‘Batenge Toh Katenge’ and ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe Hai’, attributed to Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi respectively – on their head, Thackeray said, “They said it right – Batenge Toh Katenge, meaning if we get divided, our pockets will be snipped. If we are together, we will be safe from BJP and Eknath Shinde. Therefore, we need to be the change for ourselves and vote them out.”