Maharashtra state deputy Devendra Fadnavis sought to target his former ally and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray over the decision of the Congress government in Karnataka to drop chapters on RSS founder K B Hedgewar and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar from textbooks.
Speaking at a rally in Osmanabad, Fadnavis said while the Congress government has removed the names of the heroes who participated in the nation's freedom struggle from school textbooks, their names can not be erased from our minds.
When the BJP lost elections in Karnataka, MVA leaders Sharad Pawar and Nana Patole said they will implement the Karnataka pattern in Maharashtra. Now Karnataka has decided to remove the names of freedom fighters from books and withdraw a law against forced conversions, he said.
I ask Uddhav Thackeray, is this the Karnataka pattern they are going to bring to Maharashtra? Will Uddhav Thackeray tolerate all this? Or he should declare that he has given up Hindutva ideology, Fadnavis added. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (who rebelled against Thackeray last year) and the BJP were rejuvenating the Hindutva of Bal Thackeray, he further said.
Earlier, speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Fadnavis said the revision of school textbooks in Karnataka was expected after the Congress returned to power in the southern state.