[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Shiv Sena chief made a sarcastic swipe at PM Modi saying if history of India is re-written, we will see only one person’s face

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray launched a scathing attack on the BJP, asking the ally to refrain from “teaching us patriotism” and hitting out at it over a range of issues from note-ban to cow vigilantism.

“Don’t teach us patriotism. The day when we need to be taught patriotism hasn’t come yet,” Thackeray said, addressing the Shiv Sena’s annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on Saturday night.

However, the Shiv Sena chief asked his party workers, who had targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi during recent demonstrations against price rise, not to make personal attacks. “We will organise more such agitations… But refrain from criticising Prime Minister Modi. No need to target one person for overall mess,” he said.

Referring to Modi’s much criticised demonetisation move which had, in a single stroke, flushed 86 per cent of the country’s currency out of circulation last year, Thackeray said, “An atmosphere was created that those who favour demonetisation are patriots and those who oppose it are traitors…Then who were the people who lost their lives waiting in queues (in front of banks)?”

The Sena leader pointed to the contradiction in the BJP sharing power with Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir, while stressing his own party’s strong belief in ‘Hindutva’ politics.

“In Kashmir, what ideological bond do you (BJP) share with the PDP? Why hasn’t special status to Jammu and Kashmir been revoked yet?” Thackeray asked in a pointed reference to its senior alliance partner of nearly three decades.

“We allied with the BJP for Hindutva when the word ‘Hindutva’ was taboo. If they (BJP) think we are of no use to them, we’ll see (what should be our course of action),” Thackeray said while throwing a question at the BJP leadership – “Let us know what your definition of Hindutva is.”

The Shiv Sena chief also sought to know from the BJP leadership what it sought to achieve from the ban on cow slaughter while asserting that his party was “not opposing the ban”.

“The BJP does not have consistency over the issues it is bringing up. It supports beef ban, but BJP chief minister (Manohar) Parrikar (in Goa) and newly inducted Union minister of state from Kerala KJ Alphons contradict the party’s line,” Thackeray said.

Thackeray also seemed to be on the same page with his cousin and political rival, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, on the issue of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train. Reiterating Raj Thackeray’s attacks against the BJP leadership that were made in the backdrop of last week’s stampede at the Elphinstone suburban rail station that claimed 23 lives, the Shiv Sena chief said: “Who wants the bullet train? Improve rail infrastructure first.”

The Shiv Sena chief also hit out at the Centre for chinks in the Goods and Services Tax regime and the unprecedented high fuel prices that have burnt a hole in the pockets of people across the country in recent weeks. “This government says GST brings uniform taxation. Where is the uniformity? Even Pakistan has cheaper petrol than us,” Thackeray added.

In a not-so-veiled attack at Modi, Thackeray said, “If the history of India is written (now), I think we will see only one person’s face alone. He will be there on the ‘Charkha’ as well as on book covers.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]