Uddhav Thackeray, Rohit Pawar Hit Back After BJP Minister’s ‘Terrorist’ Remark

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray lashed out on Monday against statements made by Maharashtra Minister of Cultural affairs Ashish Shelar of the BJP and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.

“These are the killers of Maharashtra and Marathi. If any BJP member is comparing a Marathi person who agitates for his rights with the terrorists who struck Pahalgam, then they are the killers of Marathi. So did the terrorists of Pahalgam join the BJP? They should tell us. Where did the terrorists go? Are they living in the houses of those who accused us? We should be ashamed.

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“You cannot even save Hindus and on top of that, you take the side of those who do injustice to Marathi people. It is the misfortune of Maharashtra that such incompetent people are ruling Maharashtra,” Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray told media persons, reacting to BJP leader Ashish Shelar’s statement comparing those who beat up people in the name of protecting Marathi language to “terrorists who struck Pahalgam”.

“In Mumbai, speakers of all languages live with Marathi people with dignity, but there are scoundrels like (BJP MP Nishikant) Dubey, who are trying to start a fire,” Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, responding to statements made earlier by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.

“We are not against language. We are against Hindi imposition. We Shiv Sainiks help everybody without looking at caste or religion. Those who compare Marathi people with terrorists of Pahalgam are the real killers of Marathi. The original BJP, which had an alliance with Shiv Sena, was killed by these people. The present BJP is taking people from this party and from that party,” Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said.

Earlier, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had stated, “What is the contribution of Mumbai and Maharashtra, which is the financial capital of the entire country? Whose money does Maharashtra eat? Tata, Birla and Reliance may be headquartered there but they do not have any factories in Maharashtra. If there were no Bihar and Jharkhand, what would Tata and Birla have done? Tata, Birla and Reliance pay taxes in Mumbai but Tata opened its first factory in Jharkhand. Maharashtra lives on our money.

“What tax do you bring? You do not have factories, industries or mineral mines. All the mines are in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha Reliance’s refinery and semiconductor project are in Gujarat. What is there in Maharashtra? You exploit us from above and bully us”.

“Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray target only North Indians. If you want to beat up people, then beat up all the Tamil, Telugu and Urdu speakers in Mumbai. After all, every dog is a lion in his own house, right? Uddhav and Raj Thackeray must come to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and show what they can do. They will be picked up and thrashed if they dare to do it. We respect Marathi but we will not tolerate this dictatorship,” Nishikant Dubey said.

“We respect Marathi freedom fighters who made a great contribution to India’s freedom struggle. However, today vote bank politics has started in Maharashtra. Nothing can be cheaper than what Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray are doing today. We will resist it. If Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray have the courage, they should go in front of the Mahim dargah and beat up a Hindi or Urdu speaker. Only then will I accept Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray as the real heirs of Balasaheb Thackeray,” Nishikant Dubey said.

In a related development, Sharad Pawar-led MLA Rohit Pawar reacted to the “terrorists who struck Pahalgam” statement made by Maharashtra Minister of Cultural affairs Ashish Shelar of the BJP and said, “We condemn Ashish Shelar’s statement because he compared Marathi people fighting for their rights to terrorists who struck Pahalgam. We advise him to stay careful about prominent leaders in his party who ask some leaders to make such statements,” Rohit Pawar said.