BJP's stand on VD Savarkar empty talk: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray on Monday slammed the BJP and said his erstwhile ally’s allegiance towards controversial freedom fighter VD Savarkar was just an empty talk. “They keep talking of Savarkar, however they don’t follow his ideals. Savarkar had spoken of Akhand Hindustan which incorporated Pakistan and Bangladesh in our country. We had formed an alliance (with the BJP) for this reason, this was our dream, this is what we wanted,” the Maharashtra Chief Minister said after protesting BJP MLAs created a ruckus in the Maharashtra assembly early on Monday morning demanding an apology from former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for remarks against Savarkar.

Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis led his party’s 105 MLAs, wearing “I am also Savarkar” saffron caps, to protest the Hindutva icon’s alleged insult by Gandhi. Thackeray in his speech addressing party workers said instead of working on Akhand Hindustan, the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre implemented the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). “A Prime Minister should have threatened these neighbouring countries if Hindus were not being treated fairly. Instead of making Akhand Hindustan as Savarkar wanted, we are just getting people from there to our country," Thackeray said while addressing Shiv Sena cadres.

The chief Minister refuted BJP’s claim that Sena had been changing its stand on CAA, insisting that his party’s stand was well articulated. “Where will you accommodate these people, do you know how many people would come. The Kashmiri Pandits were refugees in our own country, and it was the Sena that got them houses,” Thackeray said. The Chief Minister further slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his statement that those opposing the citizenship amendment bill were speaking Pakistan’s language. “If you have so much courage then why don’t you finish off Pakistan,” asked Thackeray.


“We are followers of Hindutva. Just because we formed a government (by taking NCP and Congress support) does not mean that we converted immediately,” said the Chief Minister, referring to his former ruling partner’s criticism that his party had diluted its stand on Hindutva after taking Congress support. “We were Hindus even in 2014 when the BJP broke the alliance with us. We are Hindus even now. However, you are wearing the burkha of Hindutva and attacking the country’s roots. This is not acceptable,” said the chief minister. The BJP’s game plan of raising the Savarkar issue in the assembly did not succeed when Speaker Nana Patole, of the Congress, refused a discussion.