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MumbaiShiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that his party does not differentiate between Marathi speaking people and North Indians settled in Mumbai. Thackeray’s remarks are being seen as an attempt to reach out to this important vote bank ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections. Addressing the North Indian community, the former Maharashtra chief minister called for unity and said that spreading hatred and dividing people is not what Hindutva means.
Thackeray said, “I parted ways with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because I never left Hindutva. BJP is not Hindutva. North Indians want an answer as to what is Hindutva. Hating each other is not Hindutva. We do not differentiate between Marathi speaking and North Indian people settled in Mumbai. He appealed to the North Indian community to forget the misconceptions of the past.
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It is noteworthy that Shiv Sena has always projected itself as the sole protector of the sons of this soil and has led violent agitations against North Indians in the past. Thackeray said he broke away from the alliance with the BJP to protect his honor and joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) after the 2019 elections.
In an apparent reference to rebel Shiv Sena MLAs from the Balasahebchi Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, he said, “…otherwise I would have remained a slave with a leash around my neck as some of my people have now become.” Thackeray said that whenever he meets North Indians or Muslims, he becomes a victim of a propaganda campaign and his Hindutva is questioned.
He said, “My meeting with you has been criticized. If I meet Muslims, it is said that I have left Hinduism. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Mumbai two days back, whose kitchen did he visit? Had I done so, I would have been called anti-Hindu. But if the Prime Minister does so, it is said that he has a big heart. I want to make it clear that we are not at all against the Bohra community. They are with us. (agency)
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