Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut
Attacking the BJP again for accusing Shiv Sena of playing only ‘jumlebaazi’ for Hindutva, party MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed that Shiv Sena is the first party in the country to contest elections on the issue of Hindutva.
Talking to reporters, Raut, referring to the by-election for Vile Parle assembly seat in Mumbai, said that Shiv Sena candidate Ramesh Prabhu had contested the elections on the agenda of Hindutva. Raut said that this is the first time that Hindutva has been mentioned in electoral politics in the country, in that by-election Congress and BJP were also in the fray. Prabhu won the Vile Parle assembly constituency in the by-elections held in 1987–88 and retained the seat in the 1990 elections.
“After this victory, BJP approached Shiv Sena for an alliance on Hindutva, to which Balasaheb (Thackeray) agreed as he did not want division of Hindu votes. Contemporary BJP leaders are unaware of this history,” Raut said. Indirect attack on Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis.
Raut’s remarks come amid a war of words between the Shiv Sena and the BJP, which erupted on Sunday after Shiv Sena President and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray accused his former ally of practicing “hollow” Hindutva for power.
Hitting back at the Shiv Sena, Fadnavis on Monday said that Shiv Sena’s Hindutva is only on paper and it is mentioned only in speeches, while his partymen had to face bullets and sticks during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Raut alleged that the BJP neglected the family members of its stalwarts like the late Pramod Mahajan, Gopinath Munde and Manohar Parrikar, who helped build that party in Maharashtra and Goa.
Recently, Parrikar’s son Utpal quit the BJP and announced to contest the upcoming assembly elections from the Panaji constituency, which was represented by his father two decades before his death in 2019.
Raut said the councilors and MLAs of Shiv Sena were elected from Mumbai before the birth of BJP and Devendra Fadnavis.
A day earlier, Fadnavis had claimed that even before the birth of the Shiv Sena (in 1966), there was the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP, which had councilors in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and MLAs in the state.
When asked about CM Thackeray’s remarks that the Shiv Sena should “capture” Delhi, Raut clarified that he meant defeating the BJP at the national level.
“The country is supreme and Delhi, which is the national capital, should not be dominated by one or two people,” he said.
Raut told reporters that Shiv Sena MLA and Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray will campaign for his party and NCP candidates in Goa, where elections will be held on February 14.
On National Voters’ Day being observed on Tuesday, Raut said there is confusion and fear among voters as to whether their vote goes to the candidate they have voted for.
He demanded that the electoral system be brought back from EVMs to ballot papers.
Read more: Sanjay Raut says, ‘If the Prime Minister had been from Shiv Sena…’; BJP’s reply
,