Month: July 2023

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP coalition’s ideology of Hindutva is not anti-Muslim or against any community, but its ideology is anti-appeasement. He slammed Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for indulging in appeasement politics after severing ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In an interview with ANI Editor Smita Prakash on June 29 before the split in Nationalist Congress Party, Fadnavis said, “What is Hindutva for us? Our Hindutva is not anti-Muslim or anti-any community. Our Hindutva is anti-appeasement. Don’t appease anyone. Let all be one and minorities have the right to education and occupation. Bring a system for them but don’t do vote bank politics.”
He said, “We have already divided our society on the basis of appeasement politics. When we bow in front of illegitimate demands, the country is divided. Uddhav adopted this appeasement politics. How did he go? He removed Hindu from Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra. This is the first time in the history of Shiv Sena a calendar was published in Urdu and ‘Janab Balasaheb Thackeray’ was written on it.”

He said, “Publishing a calendar in Urdu is not a small thing. Whoever has seen Shiv Sena and whoever knows about it, it’s a big thing for that person. It’s like transformation. This is a transformation for votes.”

“If we see Uddhav’s move as maturity or secularism, then why don’t they do some work? Why can’t they make a plan? Did they make any plans? Did they come up with a plan for the education of Muslims? They didn’t. What did they do, they made a policy of appeasement,” he said.

He added, “When the Prime Minister talked about Uniform Civil Code, the Muslim personal law board didn’t go to Akhilesh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, or Mamata, they came to meet Uddhav because they see a new pseudo-secular outfit in Uddhav.”

On being asked about Uddhav Thackeray taking part in electoral politics unlike Balasaheb Thackeray, he said, “You are absolutely right. I want to thank you for bringing this up. Today, in Maharashtra or Mumbai, we used to be an alliance. We used to get the non-Marathi vote and the Marathi vote. They (Uddhav) used to get a non-Marathi vote due to BJP. Marathi votes were already with them. They used to get an advantage. After breaking the alliance with BJP, he is not popular in the non-Marathi vote.”

He said, “Marathi vote is already with BJP. Because the Marathi vote is also the Hindutva vote. It came to their notice that there is a deficit. How will they fill this deficit? They understood that they can fill this deficit with minority votes. Now the issue is how will they get minority votes. They know they can get it through appeasement politics. Without appeasement politics, the minority vote will not shift towards them. That is why he started this appeasement politics. It is purely political and electoral.”

In 2019, the BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtra assembly election, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister’s post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP to explore ways to form a government. The discussions between Shiv Sena, NCP and INC ended with the formation of a new alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi. A consensus was finally achieved with Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray appointed Chief Minister after protracted negotiations.

Shinde led split in Shiv Sena. The Election Commission in February this year allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the party’s bow and arrow symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction. (ANI)

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