Uddhav Thackeray dares govt to hold elections on ballot paper at Shiv Sena Dussehra rally

Uddhav Thackeray launched a sharp attack on the Central government and the BJP at the Shiv Sena's historic Dussehra rally. He alleged that they are in power by tampering with elections. Issuing an open challenge to those in power, he said that if they had real courage, they should set the EVMs aside and hold elections directly on ballot paper.

In his speech he raised the issues of repression of students, Mumbai's identity, fake Hindutva and the role of the Chief Election Commissioner. Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, Thackeray invoked the Ramayana. He said that just as Bibhishan and Shri Ram revealed the secret that Ravan's life lay in his navel, the real life of Modi and Shah today is lodged in Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Thackeray said the leaders who seized power by stealing votes have been exposed. Several videos have emerged of inhuman atrocities on students protesting in Delhi. Many young people have lathi marks on their bodies and serious head injuries. He said the words "Even if we die, so be it, but we will not step back now" expressed the anger of those young people against paper leaks and also against endless torment over the past 12 to 20 years.

He strongly opposed the mindset that brands the youth who took to the streets in the protest as "mental Naxals" and criminals. According to Thackeray, those who protested were not only students. It was the cry of ordinary people crushed by the administrative system over the past 12 years. Parents are coming out on the streets with their young children, and you are saying all kinds of nonsense about them, he said, describing it as their sharp reaction.

He asked whether they had forgotten that young people of this very age staked their lives for the country's freedom. He recalled revolutionaries in their twenties such as Anant Kanhere, Bhagat Singh and the Chaphekar brothers. He also asked how old Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was when he went to the battlefield to fight the enemy. Afzal Khan took Shivaji lightly and called him a "mountain rat", but the whole world saw what Shivaji, only 29, achieved. Thackeray asked what kind of mental perversion it is that children of that same age are now being called Naxals and "cockroaches".

Addressing the police bluntly, he said people are taking to the streets to seek justice. If speaking out does not bring justice, he asked, what should the public do? No one has a liking for having the police on their trail or bringing trouble on their family. He told the police not to behave like wolves at the bidding of those in power, and to think, when raising a stick against anyone, that it may turn on them tomorrow. He said angrily that notices rain down on the homes of ordinary people who take out a Tiranga yatra in the city, while criminals and killers roam openly in the middle of the city and fire shots, and the agencies turn a blind eye.

Speaking on Mumbai's identity, Thackeray turned aggressive. Some people come to Mumbai and openly say that "the language of Ghatkopar is Gujarati". Strongly opposing this, he said Maharashtra may be a multilingual state, but it fundamentally belongs to the Marathi manus. According to him, some of our own people sit silent with their tails tucked for the sake of power benefits, and will they now lecture us on Hindutva? There were many devious attempts earlier too to merge Mumbai with Gujarat, but the Marathi manus stood firm, which is why Mumbai remained in Maharashtra. He warned that if anyone thinks Mumbai can easily be swallowed by finishing off the Shiv Sena, they should remember that the Marathi manus will tear open the belly and come out when the time comes.

On university syllabi and books, Thackeray said some important books are being forcibly removed from libraries and syllabi. Edicts to remove books are being issued on the false claim that poison has been mixed into the literature and thought of Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. He said such a demand is raised from some anonymous social media handle and the Prime Minister's Office immediately takes it seriously and issues edicts.

He said the country's real freedom cannot last until society reforms in every way. On this occasion he recalled the thinking of the Shiv Sena chief. According to him, the Shiv Sena chief did bring religion into politics, but it was never narrow. It was a triveni sangam of 80 per cent social service and 20 per cent politics. The Shiv Sena was founded to give the Marathi manus and Hindus the confidence to live with their heads held high in the world, and it was the real Hindutva, carrying the social reform ideas of Gadge Baba.

Attacking the present rulers, Thackeray asked in which holes these people, who today call themselves great Hindutva champions, were hiding when the Babri structure was demolished. According to him, they all sat with their tails tucked when the Babri fell. He said our Hindutva is not confined to the tuft and the sacred thread, but is one of boundless love for the country. The worker who runs into the field amid the fray without the slightest care for his life is our real Shiv Sainik, he said.

He also said religion is being used conveniently for politics today. A Hindutva that raises the slogan "no work in hand, but Jai Shri Ram" cannot be ours. In his words, "work for the hands to earn a living, and Jai Shri Ram constantly on the lips" is our true Hindutva. Whether a countryman is Muslim with the colour green, Dalit with the colour blue, or any other section with any colour, in the end we all have one colour and pride, the "Tiranga", and that is everything to us. With this he ended his speech.