Modi lords over 140 cr. population: Uddhav Thackeray
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi while calling on the people of Palghar to vote out the BJP and elect his party’s candidate, Bharati Kamadi, from the Lok Sabha seat.
“This is a country of 140 crore and one person rules over it as if the people are slaves. He [Modi] lords over the populace and is supposed to be acclaimed like he is someone descended from heaven,” Mr. Thackeray said, adding that he “made a mistake” by campaigning for Mr. Modi in Palghar in the 2019 polls.
“Just imagine, the BJP is out to finish the Shiv Sena, which remained steadfastly with Mr. Modi during his tough times. The BJP and ModiShah [Union Home Minister Amit Shah] should be giving an answer to the Chinese aggression in Arunachal Pradesh and LehLadakh. We had elected them to finish off external foes like China and Pakistan. But there, they act like cowards. Instead, the BJP wants to finish Uddhav Thackeray and other nonBJP parties,” he said.
Taking aim at Mr. Shah, who had criticised Mr. Thackeray during his Nanded rally on Thursday, the Sena (UBT) chief said: “You keep claiming we are the ‘false’ Shiv Sena. But how many real BJP people are left in your BJP car today? How dare you call our party the nakli [fake] Shiv Sena, which was established to fight for the rights of the Marathispeaking sons of the soil.”
Dubbing the BJP as the ‘Bhrasht (corrupt) Janata Party’, Mr. Thackeray condemned the way in which it had split the Shiv Sena in 2022 and said the voters in the rural hinterland were overwhelmingly against Mr. Modi and the BJP.
Palghar, an ST reserved seat, will vote in the fifth and final phase in Maharashtra on May 20.