Vote BJP out of power if you want democracy: Thackeray

The upcoming Lok Sabha elections could be the last in the country and democracy would be replaced with dictatorship if BJP was not defeated, said Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday.

Speaking at his 9th Jansanvad rally at Panvel in Raigad district, he said, “The Muslims are coming to us as they understand the difference between the BJP’s and Shiv Sena’s Hindutva. Our friends and enemies, irrespective of their religion, depend solely on their patriotism.”

Panvel comes under Maval Lok Sabha constituency which Thackeray’s party had won in the last election. However, the current MP, Shrirang Barne, defected to chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.

“We only opened an office today and we had such a large number of people here. What will be the scene when we win this constituency, which we have to. Raigad and Mawal are Chhatrapati Shivaji’s birthplace and capital, and it is pertinent that our pure saffron flag is hoisted here. My grandfather too hails from this region and so we have a special relationship with it,” Thackeray said.

Accusing the BJP of being ungrateful, he claimed, “Balasaheb and Shiv Sena supported you in your time of need and took you all over Maharashtra on our shoulder. No politician stooped to such levels that you have. In the last 10 years all they have done is to rename projects initiated by Congress and call ‘jumla’ as ‘Modi guarantee’. What happened to the 2014 guarantees?”

The Sena (UBT) chief attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi by referring to the Supreme Court order on electoral bonds. “How much money did the parties receive? The BJP has almost ₹7,000 crore while Congress has just ₹700- ₹800 crore in its bank accounts. Modi claims Congress did not do anything in 70 years. But it is true that you looted the country and Congress didn’t.”

Coming down on Shinde, Thackeray said they tried to take away everyone, but staunch loyalists didn’t budge. “We have leaders here like Mahadev Rao Bhide, Shirish Patil and Baban Patil whom the party has given little. But the love of the people is enough for them and hence even after Balasaheb left, they did not leave Shiv Sena or the Thackeray family. What did we not give to the traitor leader? Yet he backstabbed us.”

He also referred to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s statements that the BJP would return to power, and said, “Why are they breaking parties if they are so confident of victory?”

“After splitting our party, Modi raised the issue of irrigation corruption here, during the MP election. Four days later, Ajit Pawar joined them. Presenting the white paper, his minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned the Adarsh scam and soon Ashok Chavan, who had till then been fighting for Congress seats in MVA, joined them. The BJP tactics will have to be ended not only in our state but in the country for our ‘achche din’,” Thackeray said.

The Sena (UBT) chief did not even spare Barne, calling him a traitor. “We must defeat the traitor MP. I am shocked to learn that there is still no rural government hospital here. I had beefed up health infrastructure during Covid-19 and given permissions for several hospitals. Why didn’t he get one here?”

He also accused the local strongman and former MP Ramseth Thakur, whose son Prashant Thakur is the MLA from Panvel, of being an opportunist. “There is an all-party `Sheth’ here. They go to whichever party is in power. Their only agenda is to ensure their shop is running.”

On the Navi Mumbai airport naming issue, he said, “Respecting the demand of the locals, I had approved PAP leader late D B Patil’s name for the airport. Airports in the rest of the country have been named. Why is there no decision by the Central government on this airport?”