Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his father and Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray saved him when the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had asked him to follow "raj dharma".
The former Maharashtra chief minister said PM Modi wouldn't have come this far had Bal Thackeray not 'saved' him.
The Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief invoked Vajpayee's remark asking the then Gujarat chief minister to follow "raj dharma" in the wake of the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
Speaking at a public rally, Thackeray said, "It was my father Balasaheb Thackeray who saved the current Prime Minister when the then PM Atal-ji wanted him to honour 'Raj dharma'. But Balasaheb intervened saying it was the need of the hour. Had that not happened, he (PM Modi) wouldn't have reached this position. Now, when they are on top, they seem to have forgotten about us."
In a veiled attack at the rebel Sena MLAs, who broke away and joined the rebel faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, he said, "I would have been a slave with a belt around my neck (if he had been with the BJP), just like some of my people have now become."
Thackeray accused BJP of spreading hatred in the country, saying, "They cause a rift among Hindus and Muslims and ignore other key issues that our country is faced with. That can never be our Hindutava."
He said, "We broke the alliance but did not leave Hindutava. Hindutva does not belong to the BJP alone. I don't believe in the Hindutva that they practice."
"I never discriminated between Hindus and Muslims or between Marathis and non-Marathis," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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