Within hours after Saamana hit out at Narendra Modi for restricting his relief efforts in the rain-ravaged Uttarakhand only to the stranded Gujaratis, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday made amends and said that his party’s official mouthpiece had not criticised the Gujarat Chief Minister, but had targeted the latter’s propaganda machinery.
“We have no reason to oppose or hate Modi… In our newspaper, we have not criticised Modi, but we have been critical of those who projected his relief efforts in an exaggerated manner. What we written in our editorial today is what we expect from Modi. Modi has done good work. But, he should not restrict himself to Gujaratis. Because Maharashtrians are also stranded in Uttarakhand. So are people from other States,” Uddhav clarified at a hurriedly-called news conference later in the day.
“What we have said is that even Gujaratis are Hindus. A majority of stranded pilgrims are Hindus. In our editorial, we have tried to emphasise that CMs of other States should see for themselves and emulate the manner in which Modi has managed to shift the stranded Gujaratis from Uttarakhand to their home State in such large numbers,” Uddhav said.
In the editorial published in its official mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena had earlier in the morning alluded to news reports about the manner in which Modi had managed to rescue and shift back 15,000 stranded Gujaratis back to his home State in four Boeing planes and 25 luxury buses and said: “One has to compliment Modi for what he has done. But, at a time when he is being billed as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate, Modi’s move to restrict his relief to Gujaratis does not augur well for him”.
“At a time when there is natural calamity, one should not adopt a narrow or a parochial approach, but should have national outlook,” the editorial stated. Agreeing with a questioner that the Saamana editorial could in a way be construed as constructive criticism of Modi, Uddhav said at the news conference: “We consider Modi as our own man. When we air our expectations about Modi, how can you call it criticismIJ Whenever we wanted we have criticised him in the past. If need be, we will criticise him tomorrow as well.”
Explaining the reason behind Saamana criticising the propaganda machinery of Modi, Uddhav said: “Unfortunately what happened was that after Modi did an exemplary work in Uttarakhand, the Congress called him faku Modi. The description of Modi is very disparaging and not in good taste. When the news reports came, they spoke about the manner in which Modi concentrated his energies on rescuing only Gujaratis. After all even Gujaratis are Hindus. What we wanted to say that CMs of other States should emulate the example of Modi and make efforts to rescue the stranded pilgrims from their respective States in a similar manner. The concern behind the editorial was that all those stranded people — irrespective of States they belong to — should benefit from the relief efforts”.
On whether the Shiv Sena would support Modi as the NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate in the lok Sabha polls, Uddhav said: “let’s face it, no decision has yet been taken as to who would be the NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate. I would like to reiterate that it is only after the BJP announces its choice for Prime Ministerial nomination that we will make our stand clear on the issue”.
Replying to a question, Uddhav made it clear that Sena had not set any deadline for the BJP to announce its choice for Prime Ministerial nomination. “We have not set any such deadline. I am not Nitish Kumar. let me reiterate that our alliance with the BJP is not for the sake of power but for championing cause of Hindutva. All the same, we expect the BJP to spell out its choice as and when preparatory talks for forthcoming lok Sabha polls begin among the NDA constituents”.