'Imagine, for the last 12 years the prime minister belongs to the BJP, the home minister belongs to the BJP... If that is the case, you have waited for 12 years to remove infiltrators. Which means you and your central government has failed India on stopping infiltration.'
The Rediff Podcast: Featuring Shiv Sena-UBT leader Aditya Thackeray.
In a no-holds-barred conversation on The Rediff Podcast, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Aditya Thackeray launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, taking on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' claims while defending his party's 25-year legacy in Mumbai.
"Why do you call BJP a juggernaut?" Thackeray challenged, when asked about facing the ruling party's might. "The BJP has the Election Commission in its hand, police, and all the government agencies. Everything is with them. And yet there is an Opposition fighting against the kind of strong willed dictatorship that they're trying to bring in."
The younger Thackeray was particularly scathing about the BJP's focus on what he called diversionary issues.
"A civic election is about gutter, water, meter. It is not about Rohingyas and Bangladeshis and Hindutva and this and that. Speak about issues, we say talk about issues," he insists, ridiculing Fadnavis' promise to remove Bangladeshi infiltrators.
"Imagine, for the last 12 years the prime minister belongs to the BJP, the home minister belongs to the BJP... If that is the case, you have waited for 12 years to remove infiltrators. Which means you and your central government has failed India on stopping infiltration."
As Mumbai prepares to vote, Aditya Thackeray's message is unequivocal: "We will be winning decisively and Mumbai will win."
Whether the voters agree remains to be seen when results to the election to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation are declared on January 16.
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