Nation that tackled British needn’t fret over Emergency, says Uddhav

The Shiv Sena supremo said he will support simultaneous elections only if the Prime Minister and chief ministers are restrained from campaigning.

Friday’s ‘courtesy call’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to thank Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray for supporting the BJP-led coalition candidate in the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman elections has failed to thaw icy ties between the sparring allies. Thackeray was at it again on Monday. Hinting at electoral rhetoric, he said he will support simultaneous elections only if Prime Minister and chief ministers are restrained from campaigning because they “fool people”.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at a media briefing in Mumbai. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

Thackeray was speaking at the 58th anniversary of ‘Marmik’, a Marathi magazine launched by his father late Bal Thackeray. The magazine was the party mouthpiece before Saamna was launched.

Uddhav Thackeray said the country that overthrew the British rule need not worry about emergency-like situation. “I have been hearing that there is an emergency like situation in the country. Why should the nation that overthrew the British rule worry about it?”

Even former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had imposed The Emergency in 1975 was booted out of power by the people, said Thackeray.

He directed MP Sanjay Raut to petition the election commission to bar Prime Minister, chief minister and other ministers from campaigning in the elections. “They just make misleading claims and fool the people. When we try to expose them, we are called negative people, out to disrupt the whole environment. People get swayed by these promises,”said Thackeray.

Taking a dig, Thackeray urged Modi to speak the truth at least in his Independence Day speech.

Thackeray said various agitations — by several castes such as the Marathas and Dhangars — highlight the failure of the state government. “If you cannot fulfil the aspirations of people, what is the difference between you and the previous government,” he said.

In Monday’s editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena attacked Modi for being interviewed through e-mails by various newspapers, to hide the failures of his government.