On Sunday, MVA president and Shiv Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray spoke at the MMRDA ground in Bandra in what was supposed to be the MVA’s last meeting ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections on November 20.
“The Maharashtra assembly elections are a fight between the looters of Maharashtra and the protectors of Maharashtra!” quipped Thackeray. Disparaging ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, Thackeray said that Modi had failed in delivering the guarantees promised and that was using Bal Thackeray’s name to garner votes.
Thackeray also addressed the Maha Yuti’s campaign slogan ‘Batenge toh Katenge’ and exclaimed, “I, on my part, am telling Devendra Fadnavis that if they divide Mumbai, hum aapko katenge. When I was CM, I didn’t allow any trouble to happen and every community was safe. If they are feeling unsafe now when Narendra Modi is at the helm of affairs, then he must resign.”
Thackeray attacked Gautam Adani too, and said that under the Maha Yuti, properties in Mumbai had been doled out to Adani, “Maharashtra is facing a sultani by Adani. The state government has doled out many lands to him, including the Kurla Mother Dairy plot, salt pan land and the Dahisar and Mulund check naka lands. When I come back to power, I will tear those orders and dump them in the dustbin.” Along with his promise to defenestrate Adani, Thackeray promised to provide in situ rehabilitation to the residents of Dharavi.
Redolent of the Gujarat-Maharashtra rivalry from the 1950s and 1960s, Thackeray commented, “If the Maha Yuti wins, crackers will be burst in Gujarat.” He later clarified that his fight was not against Gujarat or Gujaratis, but that Amit Shah and Narendra Modi were creating a wall between Gujarat and the rest of the country.
