BJP is taking country towards dictatorship, says Uddhav Thackeray

BJP’s ploy to finish off regional parties by crushing regional pride is “extremely alarming”.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday lashed out at BJP national president J.P. Nadda for his statement that all regional parties, including the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, would be “decimated” and only the BJP would remain in future.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai following the arrest of his confidant and MP Sanjay Raut, Mr. Thackeray said the country, under the BJP, was lurching towards “a Hitlerian dictatorship”. He said the BJP’s ploy to finish off regional parties by crushing regional pride was “extremely alarming”.

“Is there any democracy in Mr. Nadda’s speech that only their party [the BJP] will remain while all other parties in the country will perish. When you unleash agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against dissenters in Opposition parties, then where is the democracy?” he said.

At a political event in Bihar, Mr. Nadda had said that in the times to come, “only an ideology-driven party like the BJP will survive while others ruled by families will perish”.

Criticising Flaying dynastic politics in the south as well as in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Nadda said that the Shiv Sena was on the path to extinction in Maharashtra.

“This is a statement which is pushing the country towards a one-party dictatorship… Just you [the BJP] try to finish the Sena in Maharashtra. They [the BJP] want to pit Maharashtrians against non-Maharashtrians,” Mr. Thackeray said.

He further said that Mr. Nadda’s remarks smacked of a ploy to sow division among Hindus by erecting linguistic barriers.