Thane, Aug 10 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday evening said his party workers were his `wagh-nakh’, and he was not afraid of “Abdali”.
Earlier, as Thackeray arrived for a gathering of his party workers at the Gadkari Rangayatan auditorium here, workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) staged a protest and threw tomatoes and cow dung at his convoy.
Recently Uddhav Thackeray had dubbed BJP leader Amit Shah as “Ahmed Shah Abdali” after the Union home minister accused him of being the head of the “Aurangzeb fan club.” “My Shiv Sainiks are my `wagh-nakh’, I have no fear of Abdali,” Thackeray said at the program.
`Wagh-nakh’ or tiger-claw, a hand-held weapon, is said to have been used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj when he killed Bijapur sultanate general Afzal Khan in 1659. The weapon is currently on display at a museum in Satara.
His party’s original name (Shiv Sena) and electoral symbol (bow and arrow) were “stolen” and the adversaries spent crores of rupees, still Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates secured more than five lakh and four lakh votes in Thane and Kalyan Lok Sabha constituencies, respectively, Thackeray said.
Both the seats, strongholds of the undivided Shiv Sena, were won by the rival Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Thackeray also noted that his party won Mumbai Graduates and Mumbai Teachers Legislative Council seats recently.
Hitting out at the Shinde government’s `Ladki Bahin’ scheme under which eligible women will be getting Rs 1500 per month, Thackeray said how did the Rs 15 lakh (purportedly promised by the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections) shrink to Rs 1500.
“Rs 15 lakh were promised to be transferred in each and every Indian’s bank account….the amount has come down to Rs 1500. People want their rights, and not alms,” he said.
Women should take benefit of the scheme — announced ahead of assembly elections — as it is their own money, but should not compromise on self-respect, the former chief minister added.
Earlier, MNS workers staged a protest outside the Gadkari Rangayatan and some of them threw tomatoes, bangles and balls of dry cow dung at Thackeray’s convoy.
Police detained some MNS workers.
Thackeray made no mention of the incident in his speech.
On Friday, Sena (UBT) supporters had thrown betel nuts at the convoy of MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Uddhav’s estranged cousin, in Beed city. PTI MR PR COR KRK
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