Cash crisis: Bal Thackeray should be alive to rein in spin doctors, says Sena

Continuing its barrage against the Narendra Modi-led Union government, of which it is a component, the Shiv Sena on Thursday said its former leader Bal Thackeray should be alive today to chop the tongues of those who are likening demonetisation despair faced by people to patriotism.

On the fourth death anniversary of former Sena supremo Thackeray, the party in an editorial in its mouthpiece, Saamana, said, “Nero was playing the fiddle when Rome was ablaze. The same way, people have been turned into beggars and made bankrupt, and some are wagging their tongues explaining this is called patriotism. The public sentiment is that Thackeray should be here today to silence such wagging tongues and voice the anguish of the common man.”

The entire country’s population is cherishing the memory of Thackeray and the sentiment that he should have been alive echoes the failure of every political leader in the fray, the editorial said.

The party also criticised the Central government on the Pakistan issue, saying despite the surgical strike, the neighbouring country’s attacks have not stopped and India is losing a handful of soldiers every day.

“The Sena chief used to always say that the country will not improve unless there is an iron man sitting in Delhi. He himself had the strength of a thousand such iron men, but didn’t have any greed for power,” the party said.

A large number of Shiv Sena volunteers from across the city will make their way to Dadar’s Shivaji Park, like every year since 2012, to pay their tribute to Thackeray.

The former Sena chief delivered his first rabble-rousing speech in 1966 from Shivaji Park, where he was cremated in 2012 with state honours.

The ground now hosts a ‘smruti chauthara,’ a small memorial for Thackeray. Hundreds of Shiv Sainiks visit the site every year with flowers and garlands. The state government is in the process of working out a permanent memorial for Thackeray at the Mayor’s Bungalow, adjacent to Shivaji Park.

First Published: Nov 17, 2016 11:44 IST