A day after Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray hit out at the BJP and its allies in the NDA, saying that the “concern” shown by them for Muslims would put even Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah to shame.
Reacting to the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha, Uddhav said that the Wakf bill was a ploy resorted to by the BJP to gift land parcels to its “industrialist friends”.
“Our MP Arvind Sawant said even Hindu temples have large parcels of land, churches in India have a lot of land and so do Gurudwaras and Jain temples. Are you going to take over their land too?,” Uddhav said Sawant as having said in the lower house of Parliament.
“We voted against the bill to oppose the hypocrisy of BJP and their intentions of land grabbing through the legislation,” Uddhav said, as ridiculed Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju for their speeches in Lok Sabha.
“If their aim is to appease Muslims, then who has given up Hindutva ideology — BJP or us? How can they blame us? BJP has won its third term at Centre and things are going well for it, yet it is raking up Hindu-Muslim issues,” Uddhav said.
“If you want to take the Wakf and why don’t you take back the land grabbed by China or by Pakistan (in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir),” the Sena (UBT) chief said. Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uddhav said that it was surprising to see Rijiju tabling the bill as he had earlier supported consumption of beef as food.
The Sena (UBT) chief said it was ssd Modi chose to leave for Thailand and Sri Lanka instead of holding an all-party meeting to discuss the implications of Trump’s tariffs. In a related development, the BJP has thanked its key Maharashtra allies - Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP for their support to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which aims to bring in changes in the 1995 law governing Waqf properties.
“The NDA constituent parties provided overwhelming support for the passage of this bill with a majority. I am grateful to our allies, especially Shiv Sena (Shinde group) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar group),” state BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule said.
On the other hand, deputy chief minister and Shinde Sena chief Eknath Shinde accused Uddhav of practising “double standards” and leaving the ideology of late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.
“After its MPs voted against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s true face is exposed to people now. He ( Uddhav Thackeray) has committed a bigger sin than than the one he committed in 2019 when he left the principles of Shiv Sena and joined hands with the Congress (and NCP) for lust of power,” Shinde said, alluding to the Sena (UBT) joining hands with the Congress and NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state.
