Maharashtra polls: The BJP wants to rule Mumbai from Delhi, says Uddhav Thackeray

Senior Congress and NCP (SP) leaders stayed away from the meeting, and the Congress was represented by Mumbai chief Varsha Gaikwad

MUMBAI: “The Maharashtra assembly elections 2024 are a fight between the looters of Maharashtra and the protectors of Maharashtra,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray. “If the Mahayuti wins, crackers will be burst in Gujarat.”

Thackeray was speaking at the MMRDA ground in Bandra East on Sunday evening in what was supposed to be the last meeting of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) before the elections. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Thackeray was speaking at the MMRDA ground in Bandra East on Sunday evening in what was supposed to be the last meeting of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) before the elections. Senior Congress and NCP (SP) leaders stayed away from the meeting, and the Congress was represented by Mumbai chief Varsha Gaikwad.

Hitting out at Narendra Modi, Thackeray said that the BJP slogan ‘Modi ki guarantee’ had failed and the PM had to eventually seek votes in the name of Thackeray’s father, Bal Thackeray.

The Shiv Sena has been repeatedly claiming that there are attempts to snatch Mumbai away from Maharashtra. Thackeray reiterated these views. “There is an attempt to undermine the importance of Mumbai,” he said. “Niti Aayog has prepared a blueprint for Mumbai, and there was an MoU signed between the World Economic Forum and MMRDA, which will kill the importance of the BMC. I will scrap the MoU. Niti Ayog will be told that it cannot interfere in Mumbai, and MMRDA will be told to get out of Mumbai. MMRDA will be dissolved if necessary.”

Thackeray sneered that the BJP was now shouting ‘Batenge to katenge’ (an exhortation to Hindus to unite if they did not want to be killed by Muslims). “I, on my part, am telling Devendra Fadnavis that if they divide Mumbai, ‘hum aapko kaatenge’. 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.”

Training his guns on Gautam Adani, Thackeray said that many properties in Mumbai had been doled out to the Adani group. “I started my campaign from Kolhapur, and K P Patil, a local leader from Radhanagari, told me how water was sold to the Adani group. In Chandrapur, mines and schools were given to it. I visited Palghar and was told that Vadhavan Port would be given to Adani. This is a big issue: Maharashtra is facing a sultani (empire-building) 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.”

Thackeray also promised in situ rehabilitation of Dharavi residents along with their businesses. He said that the first decision of his cabinet would be to take back all the land given to Adani.

The Sena (UBT) chief also cited how BJP MLC Pankaja Munde had stated how the BJP had arranged for vigilance staff to supervise 90,000 booths. Thackeray quipped they had been brought from Gujarat, and the local unit of BJP sounded like a defeated one.

Thackeray also clarified that he did not have any fight with Gujarat or Gujaratis. “But Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are creating a wall between Gujarat and the country,” he said, appealing to Gujaratis to stop the duo. “Modi and Shah may go, but this wall will be like the wall of Germany,” he said. “It will take years for it to break.”