Maintaining that only the BJP-led NDA was capable of providing a stable Government to the country at this juncture, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said on Thursday that in the event of the forthcoming lok Sabha polls throwing up a fractured mandate, then the nation would be heading towards anarchy under a “weak” regime like the current UPA Government.
Addressing a huge public rally at the KG Somaiya Grounds here on the occasion of birth anniversary of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, Uddhav kicked off the Sena’s campaign for the forthcoming lok Sabha polls, by exhorting the party cadres to work towards unseating the Cong-headed Governments at the Centre and in the state.
Playing at the rally a recorded tape of a pledge taken from cadres by late Sena chief Bal Thackeray in 1994-95 before Sena-BJP came to power in Maharashtra for the first time, Uddhav sought to enthuse the party cadres, ahead of the lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the State. He took a similar pledge from a large crowds of Sainiks gathered at the rally, to work towards bringing Shiv Sena to power in Maharashtra, and install a NDA Govt in New Delhi.
Though he was confident that the BJP-led NDA — with Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate — would come up trumps in the lok Sabha polls, Uddhav held out a red-herring of the emergence of an anarchy in the country, in the event of a fractured mandate in the polls.
“When Sena chief Balasaheb used to say in the past that there would be anarchy if the Congress continued to rule the country, people would laugh at him then. But, his prophesy is coming true now. If the Congress returns to power at the Centre and we have a weak prime minister like Manmohan Singh once again, then the country would be ruined,” the Sena president said.
“That’s why it is in the interest of the country that the people would elect a stable Government which only the BJP-led NDA could provide to the country,” Uddhav said, as he strongly pitched for a Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra.
Ridiculing the Congress for developing a cold feet and dropping the proposal to project as a prime ministerial candidate at the last moment, Uddhav said: “There is anti-Congress wave in the country. Knowing full well that its game was up, the Congress did not want to make Rahul Gandhi a sacrificial lamb. On the contrary, we (NDA) have given a Prime Ministerial candidate (in the form of Modi) and we have stood by him solidly. Come what may, we will definitely bury you (Congress) under the ground this time around”.
Castigating NCP Sharad Pawar for his repeated statements that the country needed a stable government at the Centre, Uddhav wondered: “Why does not the NCP realize that it is very much part of the Congress-led UPA government. Why are you (Pawar) raising your voice at the Centre IJ Ironically enough, in Maharashtra, the NCP is threatening to walk out of the ruling alliance with the Congress, if it was not provided adequate numbers of seats to contest the lok Sabha polls”.
Seeking to call the NCP’s bluff of walking out of the ruling Democratic Front ahead of the lok Sabha polls, Uddhav said: “I can say for sure that the NCP will never severe its links with the Congress. Because, the moment it walks of the DF, the Congress will institute cases against the corrupt NCP ministers and throw them into jail”.
Daring the Cong-NCP alliance to go in for simultaneous lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Uddhav took a dig at Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, “Though he is a clean chief minister Chavan is extremely tired of shielding the scam-tainted NCP-Congress leaders. “A sum of Rs seven crore was spent on the judicial inquiry commission which probed the Adarsh Scam, but only bureaucrats were arrested, and three chief ministers were shielded by him,” he said.
Accusing the Congress of appeasing minorities and thereby adopting a “divide and rule” policy, the Sena president singled out Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Pawar for a vicious attack.
“Is it a crime to call ourselves HindusIJ We are proud to be Hindus. Pawar says Muslims cannot be blamed if they react to atrocities. Shinde wrote to Chief Ministers asking them to think hundred times before arresting Muslims and top release the falsely implicated Muslims from the jail. … I have called you here today to warn you that close to the elections, the Congress-NCP alliance will resort to this divide and rule policy of appeasing minorities,” Uddhav said.