Uddhav is allergic to the word ‘Hindu’, says Shinde as two Senas trade barbs

“Balasaheb coined the slogan ‘Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain (Say with pride that we are Hindu)’. Now where is his Hindutva?” Eknath Shinde demanded to know

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, while addressing his party at the NSCI dome at Worli on the Shiv Sena Founder’s Day function, lost no opportunity to hit out at Uddhav Thackeray. “Even today (while addressing the Shiv Sena (UBT) at Shanmukhananda Hall), he did not start with the word ‘Hindu’,” he said. “Earlier he and his father Bal Thackeray would always start their speeches with ‘All Hindu brothers, sisters and mothers gathered here’. But ever since he aligned with the INDIA alliance, he does not mention the word ‘Hindu’.”

CM Eknath Shinde addresses his party workers on the 58th Shiv Sena foundation day at NSCI, Worli on Wednesday. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Shinde, who said that Thackeray had developed an allergy to the word, declared that he had no right to take Bal Thackeray’s name. " Balasaheb coined the slogan ‘Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain (Say with pride that we are Hindu). Now where is his Hindutva?” he demanded.

The chief minister said that Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Arvind Sawant’s margin in the Worli assembly constituency (represented by Aaditya Thackeray) was a little over 6,000 votes, and the talk about Sawant getting a lead of 50,000 was proved wrong. Without taking Aaditya ‘s name, he said that in the next elections, he would have to move to Bhendi Bazar, a Muslim-dominated area, to get the necessary lead.

Shinde also gloated that the Sena (UBT) group could not sustain its strongholds Konkan, Thane and Kalyan. “Some people said that my party would get just one or two seats in Parliament,” he said. “Some said our candidates would be defeated in Thane, Kalyan and Sambhajinagar. But we won with good margins. There is no place for the Shiv Sena (UBT) In Konkan. The traditional voters of the original Shiv Sena are with me.”

The CM said that his party won seven seats and would have won three to four more. “But I do not want to go into what went wrong and just want to strengthen the alliance,” he said. He claimed that the original Shiv Sena had 19 per cent voters and his party had got 14.5 per cent of those. “Everyone knows how the Shiv Sena (UBT) won. This is a temporary swelling,” he said, adding that the party survived because of the Congress’ vote bank.

The CM then read out the voting statistics to demonstrate that Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai had benefited in Muslim-dominated areas. He then claimed that Pakistani flags were used in the victory processions of Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates.

Continuing to talk about the election results, he said, “Many people said that my career would be over and the Shiv Sena would be finished. But such people have fallen flat on their faces. We fought 13 seats and won seven. Our strike rate is 46.67 per cent and the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s strike rate is 42.85 per cent. The Shiv Sena got 62,65,584 votes and the Shiv Sena (UBT) got 60,38,891 votes. In the gram panchayat elections too, we did well while the Sena (UBT) was at seventh place.”

Shinde asked the people of Maharashtra to be wary of “those who are dividing people on caste lines”. He ordered his men to work for the assembly polls and publicise the “good work of the government” among the people. He also asked his supporters to start a membership drive in the first fortnight of July.