Why is PM Modi silent when his party people abuse me: Uddhav Thackeray
Mumbai(PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Monday asked why PM Narendra Modi is silent on the abuse hurled against him and his family members.
"Modi said Congress abused him 91 times. But why are you silent when your people abuse me and my family," Thackeray said, addressing the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi rally in Mumbai. "Their abusive language shows their culture," he said. "I am asking the RSS: do you accept such an offspring (BJP)," he added.
Thackeray referred to the criticism he has faced for aligning with Congress and NCP.
"When I go with Congress and NCP, they (BJP) claim that I have forsaken Hindutva. If that is the case, then what about (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat's visit to a mosque," he said.
Thackeray said he will visit Barsu, the site of the proposed refinery in Ratnagiri district, on May 6. "I will go there and talk to the locals. How can you stop me? This is not POK," he said.
"Yes, I suggested the site for the refinery when I was the CM, but my letter (to Modi) did not specify that police should fire on protesters," he said.
Slamming the government for shifting mega projects from Maharashtra, Thackeray said, "we will make pieces of anyone who tries to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra."
He challenged Union minister Amit Shah, saying the latter will taste defeat in Mumbai and Maharashtra elections.
Thackeray also flayed the Modi government for targeting opposition leaders by using agencies like ED and CBI.
"If you have guts, send ED to the house the Chinese president, whose country has encroached upon a huge area of India," he said.
On a sarcastic note, he suggested that industrialist Gautam Adani's life story must be part of school curriculum so that people of India can learn how to become rich like him.
Addressing the rally, NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the Shinde-Fadnavis government is dithering on announcing elections to local bodies, including Mumbai municipal corporation, as it fears people will defeat them.
"This government has not been voted in by people but has come into being on the premise of treachery," he said. The ability to win elections should be the main criterion for fielding MVA candidates in ensuing polls, he said.
The state government has held back contractors' bills of over Rs one lakh crore, he claimed.
Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan claimed that the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led group want to win the Mumbai municipal corporation elections as they were eyeing the Rs 92,000 crore fixed deposits of the civic body.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nana Patole claimed that huge public money was spent on 100 episodes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' radio programme.
Citing shifting of several mega projects to Gujarat, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said it looks like Gujarat, which was formed on the same day as Maharashtra, has two chief ministers (the other being Eknath Shinde).
The Shinde-led government will collapse in the coming days, he said. NCP leader and former minister Jitendra Awhad spoke of the arrest of singer Raj Mungase for his "50 khoke" rap song against the Eknath Shinde-led government.
The khoke (crore) reference alludes to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena's claim that the rival Sena, headed by Shinde, took crores of rupees in order to topple the MVA government last year.
At the Maha Vikas Aghadi rally in Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party and Congress launched a frontal attack on the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis dispensation in Maharashtra.
The 'vajramuth' (iron fist) rally was organised to safeguard the Constitution, a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.
The event, held at MMRDA grounds in BKC, was the third 'vajramuth' rally, the first two having been held in Aurangabad and Nagpur.
In preparation for the rally, the organisers took precautions by arranging water bottles, mobile toilets, and dedicated teams of doctors. This action was prompted by last fortnight's tragic incident in Kharghar, in which 14 persons lost their lives due to heat stroke.
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BJP workers protest Bengaluru event on Umar Khalid, taken into preventive custody
Bengaluru (PTI): BJP workers, led by former Bengaluru Mayor M Gautham Kumar, staged a protest outside the heavily fortified BIC in the city on Tuesday ahead of an event.
The editors of the book “Umar Khalid and His World” have planned a reading of excerpts from the book at the venue, followed by a discussion involving several “historians and intellectuals”.
The BJP activists raised slogans demanding the cancellation of the event. They attempted to enter the venue by breaking through the barricades put up by the police.
Police personnel deployed at the spot took the BJP workers into preventive custody.
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The party had on Monday petitioned Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh seeking cancellation of the event organised in support of activist Umar Khalid.
A delegation of BJP leaders led by Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan met the commissioner and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
Khalid is currently in jail in connection with allegations of conspiracy in the 2020 Delhi riots.
In a post on ‘X’ earlier in the day, the Karnataka BJP alleged that while courts are still hearing cases related to anti-national activities, the Congress-backed ecosystem is busy glorifying individuals who aim to divide Bharat.
“Why is Bengaluru being turned into a hub for celebrating such elements? Is this the ‘cultural contribution’ the Siddaramaiah government wants to promote? Our city is a land of innovators and patriots, not a playground for the ‘Tukde Tukde’ (divisive) narrative,” it alleged.
The Supreme Court on April 20 dismissed Khalid’s plea seeking review of a verdict denying him bail, observing that there are reasonable grounds to believe the allegations against him in connection with the conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots.
The court had earlier said there was a prima facie case against Khalid and Sharjeel Imam (another accused) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), noting that prosecution material suggests their involvement in the “planning, mobilisation, and strategic direction” of the riots.
The February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi broke out during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), leaving 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.
