Now, Uddhav begins to roar

MUMBAI: Taking a cue from his father Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena’s heir apparent working president Uddhav Thackeray has also given an “exclusive interview” to party mouthpiece Saamna.

A first part of his interview, which was published on Thursday, calls Hindus to unite against Muslim fundamentalism.

“Attacks by fanatics on Hindus will continue till the community learns to live unitedly,” the younger Thackeray has said in his maiden interview to the party paper. Uddhav, in a rather uncharacteristic way, appears to be reviving the Sena’s agenda.

“Today, Islamic terrorist organisations are using lakhs of Bangladeshis, whom politicians have appeased for vote banks. Now, the time has come for Hindus to target fanatic terrorists,” he said. According to him, those involved in terrorist acts may be from Pakistan or Bangladesh but these acts cannot take place without local help.

“In Maharashtra, fanatics get backing, while policemen who have killed a terrorist in the line of duty have to face the judiciary and human rights activists,” he said. Lashing out at deputy chief minister RR Patil, he said, “Mr Patil just makes hollow promises.

A probe team should be deputed to find out what happened to his past announcements. Meanwhile, his father, Sena chief Bal Thackeray, thinks the unity shown by Mumbaikars in the wake of the July 11 serial blasts was “a slap to fanatics of Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi”.

He was referring to Mr Azmi’s recent threat that 20 crore Muslims would come out on the streets if attempts were made to label the entire community as terrorists. “Keep up Hindu unity. I salute Muslims who participated in the two-minute silence on July 18 to mourn the blast victims,” he said. Mr Thackeray’s comments were published in Saamna on Thursday.