Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday asserted that the Muslim community backed their (Shiv Sena (UBT) brand of Hindutva which ‘lights the stoves in their homes” and rejects that of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which “burns their homes.”
Addressing a gathering of Shiv Sena workers here, Thackeray said, “The Muslim community is coming with us. I ask them don’t you know that I am the party chief of Shiv Sena and the son of a ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’. I am a staunch Hindu myself so why are you coming with me? They say that we have come to know that there is a difference between your Hindutva and the Hindutva of BJP. Your Hindutva burns the stove in our house and the Hindutva of the BJP burns the house,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief said.
He further said that Ram is in our hearts and this is our Hindutva, and we are patriotic Hindus.
Earlier, Thackeray said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government awarded the Bharat Ratna to former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur to lure voters from the eastern state in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “Earlier there were rules on how many Bharat Ratna could be awarded and to whom and when they could be awarded. PM Narendra Modi is awarding it to whoever comes to his mind,” Uddhav Thackeray said.
He further said that he is happy that Karpoori Thakur is being acknowledged after so many years.
“I am not saying that whoever has been conferred with the Bharat Ratna is wrong. They need votes in Bihar that’s why Bharat Ratna has been awarded to Karpoori Thakur,” he added.
Thackeray also served as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022 and the Leader of the House, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2019 to 2022. He is a member of Maharashtra Legislative Council since 2020, the president of Maha Vikas Aghadi since 2019 and the president of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) since 2022. He was also the leader (pramukh) of Shiv Sena from 2013 to 2022, working President from 2003 to 2013 and the editor-in-chief of Saamana from 2006 to 2019. A split in Shiv Sena happened when his cousin Raj Thackeray left the party in 2006 to form his own party named Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.[12] After the death of his father Bal Thackeray in 2012, he led the party and was elected as Shiv Sena president in 2013, and under his leadership Shiv Sena joined the NDA government in Maharashtra in 2014. In 2019, Shiv Sena broke away with NDA and joined UPA. It formed a sub alliance called Maha Vikas Aghadi to form the government in Maharashtra with Uddhav Thackeray leading the ministry.