We will free Bharat Mata from an autocratic regime: Uddhav

Uddhav Thackeray calls for a movement to free India from an "autocratic regime," criticizing rivals for undermining democracy and the Constitution.

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said that Maharashtra will stage a movement to free India from the “slavery of an autocratic regime”. At a Samvidhan (Constitution) Poojan function to create awareness about the need to protect the Constitution and democracy in India, held on the eve of Republic Day on Saturday, Thackeray said, “Whenever the tricolour is in danger, the saffron from Maharashtra will protect it.”

We will free Bharat Mata from an autocratic regime: Uddhav

Launching an all-out attack on his political rivals and detractors without naming them, he said, “Unfortunately, those who did not participate in the Independence movement are ruling this country and trying to rewrite the definition of independence, the Constitution and destroying constitutional institutions. These people only use the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ but in reality they are trying to put ‘Bharata Mata’ in shackles again, like the British did. As we fought against the British to free India from slavery, we will have to fight against our own people to free Bharat Mata from the shackles of an autocratic regime.”

No government has been more arrogant than the one in power, Thackeray said. “First, they destroyed constitutional institutes like the Election Commission of India and the Supreme Court. Now they are encroaching on our democratic rights and fundamental rights,” said the Sena (UBT) chief at the function, attended by party leaders such as MP Arvind Sawant, MP Anil Desai and former MP Vinayak Raut.

Referring to the assembly speaker’s decision on which faction of the Shiv Sena would be the ‘real Sena’ after the party split in 2022, Thackeray remarked, “The way the case regarding the claim on the Shiv Sena party’s name and symbol, and the defection of MLAs and their disqualification, was an example of this. Everyone knows that whatever happened was illegal but justice was not delivered.”