Maharashtra Former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray on March 05 held a public meeting in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri. While addressing, he targeted the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) for appropriating national icons and freedom fighters and also took an insulting jibe on cow urine. Uddhav Thackeray said,“Did our country attain independence by sprinkling cow urine? Did this happen that cow urine was sprinkled & we got freedom? This was not the case, freedom fighters sacrificed their lives then we got independence, “he said.
This is not the first time that Uddhav made such remarks. Back in 2020, he had infamously said “They have been trying to sling cow dung at us, in a desperate hope that it will stick but it did not because we are clean. It is them whose mouth and clothes reek of Gaumutra and Gobar.” Uddhav also said, “Sardar Patel banned RSS, they (BJP-RSS) stole name of Sardar Patel. Similarly, they stole Subhash Chandra Bose and did the same with Bala Saheb Thackeray. I challenge them to ask for votes in Modi's name and not in name of Shiv Sena and without Bala Saheb Thackeray's photo.”The Shiv Sena was also the party that, in the middle of the 1980s, following a significant Dalit rally, "purified" the Hutatma Chowk with cow urine under the leadership of its then-leader Chhagan Bhujbal.