Calling union home minister Amit Shah as Ahmad Shah Abdali, the 18th-century Afghan ruler who inflected havoc on India, Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena President, UBT intensified his rhetoric against BJP on Saturday.
Addressing a party event, Thackeray turned to Shah and BJP—determined to don the mantle of being the 'actual' successor of late Balasaheb Thackeray, 'actual' leader of Shiv Sena UBT, and dismissively referred to BJP as the 'Aurangzeb fan club'.
Thackeray said, "So what is Amit Shah? A 'descendant' of Afghan Emperor Ahmad Shah Abdali. Henceforth, I will address him as such. Don't you feel any compunction about using my or my father's name or demeaning the party he built?"
Thackeray was drawing an analogy between Ahmad Shah Abdali and his own situation, for Abdali invaded India many a time between the years 1748 and 1767 and established the Durrani Empire.
He termed Shah's frequent visits an invasion like Abdali's and promised that the BJP would be thrashed in totality.
He likened Shah to Shaista Khan, the uncle of Emperor Aurangzeb, who lost his fingers in an encounter with Shivaji Maharaj in 1666 and never returned to Maharashtra. Thackeray insinuated that BJP leaders must follow the example of Khan and not return to Maharashtra to avoid politicking reverses.
Thackeray had also quoted a letter written by the then RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras to Indira Gandhi during the Emergency in which he had said RSS was committed to the cause of cultural values and did not believe in enmity towards any religion. Thackeray asked whether BJP had decided to change its stand on Hindutva due to deviation from these basic principles.
Questioning the commitment of BJP to Hindutva, Thackeray attacked the BJP's alliance with Mehbooba Mufti, Nitish Kumar, and Chandrababu Naidu.
He also referred to the recent turbulence over the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, its fall, the division of the party, and the judicial battle that is going on at the moment for the name and symbol of the party. Thackeray has expressed confidence that 'justice' will be done in the coming Assembly elections, no matter what verdict the Supreme Court passes.
BJP leaders, including State President Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, hit back at Thackeray's comments and termed them the outpourings of frustration and power loss.
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