Trap for me; possible fake cases against my party men: Raj Thackeray cites reasons for putting off Ayodhya tour

Terms Shiv Sena’s Hindutva as ‘utterly hollow’

Alleging that a trap was laid out for him ahead of his Ayodhya visit, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday claimed he had deliberately put his tour of the holy city on hold as he did not want false cases to be lodged against MNS workers.

Speaking in Pune’s Ganesh Kala Krida Centre on Sunday, he said, “False cases were to have been slapped on MNS workers had they accompanied me to Ayodhya. But I did not fall for this trap as I did not want my MNS activists to be languishing in jails there. I can endure criticism [for postponing the Ayodhya visit], but I will not let my children [MNS workers] get stuck there.”

However, lest he be misunderstood on his Hindutva stance, the MNS leader urged Prime Minister Modi to bring on the Uniform Civil Code and a law on population control as well as to rename Aurangabad as ‘Sambhajinagar’ (after Shivaji’s son, Chhatrapati Sambhaji), at the earliest .

Targeting Brij Bhushan Singh, the BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh who had vociferously opposed Mr. Thackeray’s entry to the holy city of Ayodhya, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, saying that he first owed an apology of the MNS’ past mistreatment of north Indians, the MNS chief asked: “Why have certain people awakened to the fact after 14-15 years that I must seek an apology for the alleged mistreatment of north Indians? Where were these leaders all this time?”

Mr. Singh had demanded an apology from Mr. Thackeray before he visited Ayodhya on account of a 2008 incident, when the MNS workers had mistreated north Indians. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists had assaulted a number of north Indian aspirants across the State during the railway recruitment exams in 2008, demanding that local Maharashtrians be given the jobs instead.

In his address, Mr. Thackeray defended the incidents of 2008 by stressing that the melee began after one of the job aspirants had reportedly abused an MNS worker.

Mr. Thackeray also launched a diatribe against both Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and his estranged cousin, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. Taking on the Chief Minister, Raj Thackeray accused his cousin of “destroying” the late (Sena founder) Bal Thackeray’s credibility by continuing the Shiv Sena’s alliance with the NCP and Congress.