Election can happen any time, predicts Uddhav; questions BJP's 'Hindutva'

In a strong, no-holds-barred attack, Shiv Sena-UBT president Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (the eponymous UBT) said that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "doesn't know what Hindutva is".

"Hindutva is not a matter of selfishness, but a nationalist [one]. The BJP doesn't understand what Hindutva is. Their Hindutva is centred around the cow and gomutra (cow urine)," said Thackeray at a rally in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra on Sunday.

"I have not left Hindutva and will never leave it... Show me one instance which made you feel that I had discarded Hindutva," he said.

Saying he will be addressing more such rallies all over the state, plus joint public meetings of the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi), he said, "You can come with Modi and your stolen bow and arrow [the Shiv Sena symbol retained by the Shinde faction]. I will confront you with my name... Hold the elections now... We are ready to fight and burn your throne with our flaming torch."

Targetting the BJP, he said that "crushing other people and parties" with the support of central investigating agencies or letting loose goons to attack women leaders of opposing political parties "is not our Hindutva".

"People ask me—is the BJP a challenge before us? I say the BJP is not a challenge. The real challenge before us is how shall we undo the damage that the BJP is inflicting on the country," he said.

He asked "How is it possible that all corrupt people who join your party (BJP) suddenly become clean?" and said that the BJP hounds anybody opposing or challenging them.

Training guns on the Shiv Sena of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Thackeray said that "seeing this massive gathering, even Pakistan would have said which is the real Shiv Sena... only the Modi-appointed Election Commission of India (ECI) could not realise it".

"Some traitors and thieves believed that they are the Shiv Sena. Arre hatt..! [Go along with you!] Look at this sea of humanity... Your throng will burn down soon... There were natural disasters and even coronavirus in Maharashtra which we tackled effectively, but now this government itself is a calamity for the state," said Thackeray, amid loud cheers and applause.

He reiterated that the BJP must declare now whether they are going to fight the next elections under Shinde's leadership, and if not, then whether the reports are true, that all 48 Lok Sabha seats will be contested by only the BJP.

"They stole the party, they took away the bow and arrow symbol and are trying to steal my father [the late Balasaheb Thackeray]. Those who have nothing resort to thieving like this... First you [the voters] elected and put them on the horse, now they deserve to be yanked off their high horse," said Thackeray.

He lauded former Jammu & Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik's statements on corruption and the Pulwama attacks, and spoke about Malik being asked to hush the matter up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in the Corbett National Park at that time.