‘Sena makes Sampathy in power, seeks sympathy when out’

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray spelt out his party’s clear intention to fight the forthcoming civic elections and more in Maharashtra on its own on Saturday and said, “My party’s manifesto will announce unbelievable plans for Mumbai city.”

It may be recalled that BJP deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also recently offered political advice to Thackeray’s MNS along the same lines (as reported in First India) when he said, “Considering that the Shiv Sena is at its lowest point (on the political graph) it would be politically prudent for the MNS to field candidates in each and every seat (236 seats in all) for the BMC elections.

Speaking during the course of an interview with a regional television channel, Raj Thackeray blamed his cousin and Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray of having diverted from the philosophy and political culture espoused by the late Balasaheb Thackeray. 

“In good times (when in government) the intention is only to rake in the money and property and, when times are bad he gets busy collecting sympathy. It was I who told Balasaheb Thackeray that I would announce Uddhav’s name as Sena Chief at the Mahabaleshwar conclave of the party so that the whole debate whether it would be Uddhav or me would be ended once and for all. It was Putra-Prem (fatherly love) that eventually led to the decline of the Shiv Sena,” the MNS Chief said.

He disagreed with the perception being created that the Uddhav led faction of the Shiv Sena would derive public sympathy in the elections in Maharashtra while claiming that he was in fact the true inheritor of Balasaheb’s political legacy having taken the philosophy of being a true Hindu, Marathi Manoos, protested loudspeakers on mosques and against the Raza Academy ahead as part of a political agenda.

“When you hear Marathi messaging over mobile phones, or see the thousands of Maharashtrian citizens now getting jobs in the Indian Railways, it is due to the efforts of my party. When a Nupur Sharma inadvertently made a comment about the Muslim prophet Mohammad it created a furore and a beheading followed. When Assadudding Owaisi (AIMIM Chief) lampoons and denigrates Hindu gods, there is not a murmur of protest,” the MNS Chief, who is recovering from a hip replacement surgery, said during an uncharacteristically subdued conversation.