Uddhav Thackeray: How long will you fool people over Mandir?

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said that the Ram temple issue is raked up before every election and wondered for how for much longer people would be ‘fooled’ with the ‘Mandir Wahi Banayenge’ slogan.

Mr Thackeray visited Shivneri fort, the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in Junnar tehsil of Pune district and collected soil from there, which he will carry to Ayodhya during his visit on November 25.

He said during his visit to Ayodhya, he would ‘seek an answer’ as to how many more elections would be held where the people would be fooled with the slogan.

“The soil where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born carries with it the sentiments of all Hindus, and collecting these sentiments will speed up the process of the construction of the Ram temple. The Ram temple issue is raked up before every election,” said Mr Thackeray.

“The Sena president reached Shivneri fort by helicopter on Thursday morning and after paying tribute to the 17th century Maratha emperor, he collected the soil,” party member of Parliament Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil, who was also present there, said.

Mr Thackeray had announced during the Shiv Sena’s annual Dussehra rally in Mumbai that he would visit Ayodhya on November 25 and ‘question’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of the construction of the Ram temple.

In a bid to intensify his party’s campaign for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Shiv Sena chief even created a new slogan – “Har Hindu Ki Ek hi Pukar, Pehle Mandir, Fir Sarkaar (Every Hindu has only one demand: first the temple, and the government later)”.