Amit Shah beat Uddhav Thackeray after losing the Shiv Sena name and party symbol
Pune:
Union Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday those who chose to “lick the soles” of those with opposing ideologies found out which side of the truth they were on after the electoral commission ousted the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde true Shiv Sena and gave the symbol “bow and arrow”.
Shah also said the ideological foundations of the Bharatiya Janata Party were being finalized under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that the center was “moving towards the common civil code”.
Without naming Uddhav Thackeray, Shah, who spoke at the launch of the Marathi version of the booked Modi@20, also reiterated that there was no agreement on the split of the post of prime minister ahead of the 2019 assembly elections.
The Shiv Sena broke its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party after the results of the 2019 general election were announced, which claimed the latter had broken its promise to share the post of CM with it.
Uddhav allied with the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress to lead the Maha Vikas Aghadi until it fell in June last year following the Shinde rebellion.
“Yesterday the Electoral Commission conducted ‘doodh ka doodh, pani ka pani’ (putting out the absolute truth). Yesterday the term ‘satyamev jayate’ (the truth always triumphs) was characterized,” Shah said in the presence of CM Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
The Electoral Commission (EC) on Friday assigned the name “Shiv Sena” and its electoral symbol “bow and arrow” to the group led by CM Shinde, dealing a severe blow to Uddhav Thackeray, whose father Bal Thackeray founded the group in 1966.
“Those who used to roar by taking refuge in lies have now found whose side the truth is on,” he said, without naming Thackeray.
“During the state elections (2019) I was party leader. We fought the election together, uploading a larger photo of Modiji than his (Thackeray) and contesting the election knowing Fadnavis as the leader. But in order to become CM, (he) continued to lick the soles of people who had an opposite ideology,” Shah continued.
He urged those attending the gathering to ensure that all seats in Maharashtra should go to the treasury of the BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Maharashtra will see general elections just months after Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
“In elections there are victories and defeats. But those who betray should not be spared, as their courage will be strengthened (if they are spared). I heard Shinde’s press conference yesterday where he said he had freed the bow and arrows that had been pledged to the NCP and Congress,” Shah said.
“Forget us, these people (Uddhav faction) have betrayed the ideology of Balasaheb and Shiv Sainiks. Today, doodh ka doodh, pani ka pani ho gaya,” he asserted.
Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Shah said the country is now the world’s fifth-largest economy, larger than that of the UK, which ruled here for more than 150 years.
He said Congress and the National Conference, which predicted bloodshed in Kashmir due to the abolition of the provisions of Article 370, which gave the recalcitrant northern state special status, have now received their reply: “Leave (fire) a bullet, there is no courage even to throw a stone”.
PM Modi ended the insurgency in the Northeast and the far left is almost dead.
“This is the greatest achievement. Fifty years ago we embarked on a journey with a goal, and today, in the last nine years, that goal has been achieved. No one imagined that Article 370 would be repealed, or Triple Talaq would end, or the Citizenship Amendment Act would be enacted,” Shah said.
“No one imagined that the center would go in the direction of the Common Civil Code. But Modiji has worked to complete the party’s ideological foundations. But the mission is still incomplete,” he claimed.
With another dig at Thackeray, Shah said they (BJP leader under Modi) went into politics with the goal of making India the number one country in all sectors, not like “a country that follows the ideology of its own father, betraying his party and party workers would become prime minister”.
Under Modiji’s charismatic leadership, the party will win the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by a two-thirds majority, the Union interior minister claimed.
Shah attacked the Congress-led UPA government, which ruled from 2004 to 2014, saying that every minister in that dispensation considered themselves prime minister and no one considered the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) prime minister.
“There was political paralysis. Terrorists crossed the border and took our soldiers’ heads off, they were mutilating at the time, but there was silence in Delhi Darbar (UPA government). Scams used to unfold like movie scenes. There was no women’s safety,” he claimed.
Shah threw a jab at Manmohan Singh, saying the then PM had no respect abroad.
“The prime minister used to go and read a written speech. Sometimes he read the speech of Thailand in Singapore and the speech of Singapore in Thailand,” Shah noted.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published by a syndicated feed.)