Mumbai, Apr 11 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday hit out at BJP over the Babri demolition remark made by Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil and said when the mosque was being brought down “rats were hiding in their burrows”, an apparent swipe at the former ally-turned-rival.
Addressing a news conference here, Uddhav dubbed Patil’s remarks “an insult to Balasaheb Thackeray” and demanded chief minister Eknath Shinde either ask the minister to resign or step down from the post of CM. “It is infuriating because when the mosque was being brought down, all these rats…yes, all these rats, were hiding in burrows. No one was ready to come out,” he said in an apparent swipe at Bharatiya Janata Party.
In an interview with a regional news channel, Patil had said not a single worker of Shiv Sena was present near the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya when it was brought down.
Bal Thackeray has often been quoted as saying he was proud if any of his Sainiks had taken part in the demolition of the structure. Uddhav also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying Modi may have participated in a Bangladesh satyagraha, but he may be in the Himalayas during the Babri movement as his name did not figure anywhere in the mosque demolition.
He said PM Modi did not show the courage to make a special law on the Ram temple and the decision on the temple (construction) was given by the apex court.
Uddhav alleged the BJP lacked bravery and after the mosque was demolished in 1992, Shiv Sena was not in power. It was due to brave Shiv Sainiks and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray that Mumbai was saved (during communal riots post-Babri demolition), he added.
“Police were used in what happened in Gujarat and Ahmadabad. We did not even have the police. On the contrary, the police and the military were killing Shiv Sainiks and the traitors were on the other side. The fight was against the traitors,” Uddhav said.
He also referred to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat visiting mosques and said, “Now qawalis will be sung in madrassas. They will also claim that Babri mosque was brought down by us”.
The former Maharashtra chief minister said his party’s Hindutva is “nationalism” and asked the BJP to explain its Hindutva. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut asked whether Shinde accepts Patil’s claim and if not, then the CM should resign.
Which minister will tender his resignation over Patil’s claims? Raut tweeted.
“What will the 40 MLAs claiming to be the followers of Balasaheb Thackeray do now? Yesterday, they went to Ayodhya with the opponents of Balasaheb. Who will raise the voice against those who insulted Saheb (Bal Thackeray)”? he asked.
Patil, a senior BJP leader who holds higher and technical education portfolio in the Shiv Sena-BJP government led by Shinde, had told the news channel that not a single worker of Shiv Sena was near the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya when it was brought down by the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini on December 6, 1992.
Patil also said Sanjay Raut keeps talking about the Babri masjid demolition and wondered if the latter was even there in the temple town in Uttar Pradesh at that time.
As his remarks caused a flutter, Patil on Tuesday clarified that those who razed the structure were Hindus and they cannot be segregated as Shiv Sainiks or BJP men.
“Nobody participated in ‘karseva’ (movement to demolish the Babri structure) as members of their parties but as Hindus. At the time of the demolition (in December 1992), there was no separation between Shiv Sena workers and non-Shiv Sena workers. All participated as Hindus,” he told reporters in Pune.
The former state BJP president also said he didn’t mean to disrespect Bal Thackeray in any way during his interview.
Earlier in the day, Eknath Shinde took a swipe at Uddhav, saying Patil meant to know the whereabouts of a former chief minister when the demolition of the structure was carried out. PTI PR GK NSK NSK
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