Uddhav Thackeray said that Shiv Sena has not left Hindutva but BJP. (file photo)
Mumbai:
Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said his party will try to expand its footprint outside the state and aim for a national role, while accusing the BJP of using Hindutva for its political convenience. .
He also said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) – led by the BJP – shrank as older constituents like the Akali Dal and Shiv Sena, have already been out of the block.
Virtually addressing Shiv Sena members on the 96th birth anniversary of the party’s founder and his father Bal Thackeray, Mr Thackeray said the Shiv Sena had forged an alliance with the BJP to further the Hindutva agenda through power.
“The Shiv Sena had forged an alliance with the BJP because it wanted power for Hindutva. Shiv Sena never used Hindutva for power,” he said.
Shivsena has left BJP and not Hindutva. I believe BJP’s opportunistic Hindutva is only for power.
Mr Thackeray also said that the Shiv Sena had wasted 25 years it had spent with the BJP as an ally.
After the 2019 Maharashtra elections, the Shiv Sena broke away from the BJP and formed an alliance with the NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
He said, “We supported the BJP wholeheartedly to enable them to fulfill their national ambitions. The understanding was that they would be national while we would lead in Maharashtra. But we were betrayed and destroyed in our house. That’s why we had to back down,” Mr Thackeray said, justifying his decision to forge an alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the 2019 elections.
He alleged that the BJP uses its allies according to its political convenience and leaves them.
Responding to BJP’s sarcasm on Shiv Sena giving up Hindutva for power, he said his party has not abandoned the ideology of Hindutva but left the BJP.
“BJP does not mean Hindutva. I stand by my remark that Shiv Sena wasted 25 years in alliance with BJP,” he said.
Referring to the recent Nagar Panchayat elections, where Shiv Sena fared poorly and secured the fourth position, the Maharashtra Chief Minister said that Shiv Sena leaders, including himself, did not take the local body elections seriously and campaigned accordingly.
“On the contrary, our new allies Congress and NCP have built institutions at the grassroots level. We have to work in that direction too. In the last two years, we lost two seats in the Legislative Council held by us in the biennial elections. Me. We seem to have lost because of neglect and not because of sabotage in our ranks.”
He said that despite this setback, Shiv Sena should resolve to strengthen its presence at the national level and capture power in Delhi.
Mr Thackeray asked Shiv Sena workers and leaders to focus on building institutions in the cooperative and banking sector in rural areas.
“If our hands are not strong then there is no point in talking of contesting elections independently,” he said.
Mr Thackeray said the Shiv Sena should expand beyond Maharashtra and aim to “capture” Delhi.
He appealed to the Shiv Sainiks to work with zeal and form a party organization at the grassroots level as the party is in power in Maharashtra.
Mr Thackeray, who recovered after a spine surgery, attacked BJP leaders from Maharashtra for attacking his health.
,