Mumbai:
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the country needs a strong government, but not that of “one party with a brute majority”, and called for a coalition government.
Addressing his party’s annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, he said when the ‘chairman’ (of the ruler) is unstable, the country becomes strong.
Mr Thackeray, who is part of the opposition INDIA bloc, advocated a ‘mili-July sarkar’ (coalition government) that can take everyone along, citing the examples of governments under Manmohan Singh, PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee .
There was a time when Sena founder and his father, late Bal Thackeray, said the country needed a strong government, Uddhav recalls.
“We have seen a strong government for nine years now. Have the people’s problems been solved? “There should be a strong government, but not from one party with a brute majority,” he added, targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP), his friend turned enemy.
The BJP or (its predecessor) Jana Sangh had no role in any struggle, including that for the country’s freedom, the Marathwada liberation struggle or the Samyukta (unified) Maharashtra movement, the former Prime Minister alleged.
Attempts were being made to ‘steal’ the Shiv Sena, he said, slamming the rival Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Warning his rivals, Thackeray said, “After coming to power, we will hang upside down those who harass us.” In his attack on the BJP, Thackeray said his party’s Hindutva was nationalism.
Thackeray last month criticized the Shinde government for the lathi charge against Maratha protesters in Jalna and said the Marathas were advocating for quota even when he was chief minister, but he never gave such orders.
Who was the ‘General Dyer’ who ordered lathi-charge in Jalna, he asked.
The issue of reservation for Maratha, Dhangar and other communities can only be resolved by the Center and Parliament, Thackeray further said.
The BJP creates division and then acts as a protector, he alleged.
Thackeray said the country was not just watching the case unfold. If the speaker did not heed the directions of the Supreme Court (to dispose of disqualification petitions expeditiously), people would keep an eye on whether there is an apex court in the country or not, he said.
Mr Thackeray also challenged the Shinde-led government to hold elections and let the people decide whether the rebel MLAs were “qualified or disqualified”.
Seeking to counter the BJP’s attack on dynastic politics, Thackeray said he was proud of his family.
“…a doctor’s son becomes a doctor. We are preserving the legacy of our family…Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is also preserving the legacy of his family,” he said.
“He (Chandrachud) has taken this position because of his merits. His father (YV Chandrachud) was also the chief justice of the country and he was very strict,” Thackeray said.
On the other hand, there were some leaders who came from obscure families and rose to power, Thackeray said, citing the examples of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin and Muammar Gaddafi.
He targeted the Maharashtra government over the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project and asked who would benefit from it.
The high-speed train project was being implemented “so that traitors can quickly flee to Gujarat,” he quipped, claiming that attempts were being made to “loot Mumbai.” All good investments were shifted from Maharashtra to Gujarat and other states. Mr Thackeray claimed.
The Pakistan team was playing cricket in India when Indian soldiers were fired upon at the India-Pakistan border, the Sena chief (UBT) said.
After the speeches were over, effigies of Ravan and a demon called “khokasur” were burned.
The Thackeray-led Sena has often accused Shinde group MLAs of using ‘khokas’ (crores of rupees) to switch allegiances, leading to the collapse of the Thackeray government in June last year.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)