Security guard is stealing, says Shiv Sena chief

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a host of issues, including the Ram temple, Rafale deal and its ally’s dismal Asse-mbly poll results, in his Pandharpur rally on Monday. Speaking in Marathi, Mr Thackeray even used the same jibe that the Congress often uses to criticise the Prime Minister.

Addressing a huge crowd at Pandharpur, Mr Thackeray said, “Halli paharekarich chorya karaylaa laagale aahet (Nowadays, security guards are the ones committing thefts.” Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly hurling the “chowkidar chor hai” (the guard is a thief) jibe at Mr Modi.

Taking potshots at the government over the Rafale scam, Mr Thackeray said, “I don’t know how the court has given the government a clean chit in this. You know, nowadays watchmen have become thieves. In the procurement of planes, they have pulled off a scam. On the one hand, this government is refusing to raise the pay scale of soldiers while on the other, they carried out this scam.”

Mr Thackeray was in Pandharpur, Solapur on Monday to carry out a puja of Lord Vitthal. After the prayer, he addressed the rally where he spoke of the Ram Mandir, drought and farmers welfare. On temple issue, he said, “I have raised this issue for the elections. I am not one of those people who hide their intentions. I want to ask the BJP when it will build the Ram Mandir. Now, they are saying that the case is in court. I want to ask them that when they mobilised people in 1992 to bring down the mosque, that time too the case was in court. You did that and then came to power. You enjoyed power but Ram is still to get his place.” He said the BJP shouldn’t make empty promises on issues related to God or else Hindus would punish it in the next elections.

He also asked the BJP to clarify about the stand of its alliance partners on Ram Mandir issue. “I want to congratulate Nitish and Paswan. BJP bowed down before them. Nitish wanted an RSS-mukt Bharat. The BJP is now enjoying an alliance with him. But I want to ask the BJP, what is their position on the Ram Mandir? Are they supporting it?” asked Mr Thackeray.

Mr Thackeray also said that he doesn’t care about an alliance or seat sharing, but his concerns are the drought, farmers and the Ram Mandir. Mr Thackeray also announced a tour of drought-affected areas in January 2019.

Talking about the crop insurance scheme, Mr Thackeray said, “I have proof. There is a scam. Eleven companies that had no experience in insurance were given tenders. They collected crores of rupees. But in return, they gave almost none,” said Mr Thackeray.

The Sena chief also said that he would visit Varanasi and other cities as well with regard to the Ram temple issue. “But I want to ask you (the people) how much longer should we continue doing this? I will go to every drought-hit area in the state. Shiv Sena will stand with those who are affected by the drought,” said Mr Thackeray.

The Sena leader also raised the issue of the Union government’s information surveillance circular. “If you are doing the same thing that the Congress did in the past, what is the difference between you and it?” asked Mr Thackeray.

Mr Thackeray also slammed the BJP for putting the question ‘where is the option?’ to the public. “The people of Chhattisgarh found the option. I want to congratulate them. BJP leaders felt that only they would win every election. The people have brought them down a peg or two,” said Mr Thackeray.