"Can you dare to utter Veer Savarkar's name...?": Amit Shah lambasts Uddhav Thackeray over MVA Alliance

Union Home Minister Amit Shah came out heavily against Shiv Sea (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and asked if he can take Veer Savarkar's name while being a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah came out heavily against Shiv Sea (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and asked if he can take Veer Savarkar's name while being a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra. Addressing a public meeting in Ratnagiri, Amit Shah said, "Today I want to ask can Uddhav Thackeray, the President of fake Shiv Sena, dare to utter Veer Savarkar's name?...if you can't then what form of Shiv Sena are you running? The real Shiv Sena is being led by Eknath Shinde."

Notably, the issue of 'Veer Savarkar' is considered a divisive issue in Maharashtra. While, Congress and Rahul Gandhi have repeatedly spoken against Savarkar, Shiv Sena (both Shinde and Uddhav factions) lauds the revolutionary leader. Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have often confronted each other on the issue, with the latter saying that the disrespect for the leader won't be accepted.

Referring to Article 370, the Home Minister said that PM Modi-led government abrogated the contentious Article, while the Congress party had continued with it for all these years. "For 70 years, Sharad Pawar and company, Congress and company, on whose lap, Uddhav ji is sitting now...they kept feeding Article 370 like an orphan kid. You (people) made Narendra Modi ji, Prime Minister for the second time and on 5th August 2019, he removed Article 370 and Kashmir became part of India forever," he said.

Amit Shah said that while it was difficult to visit Lal Chowk in Srinagar, now Janmashtami processions are proudly carried out there. "I want to ask Uddhav Thackeray, those people, whose feet you fell on to become CM, what those Congress and Sharad Pawar were doing?...they opposed abrogation of Article 370. Rahul baba, it has been 5 years and nobody has the guts to pelt stones," Shah said.

"This is Narendra Modi's government. Earlier it was difficult to go to Lal Chowk, but now the procession of Krishan Janmashtami is carried with pride," he added. Attacking the former Maharashtra CM further, the Home Minister said that a leader who went with Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar can't manage the state's pride.

"I want Uddhav Thackeray to make it clear to the people, do you want the Chief Minister post or the protectors of Article 370...today you (people) have also to decide...someone who went with Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar for power can never manage Maharashtra's pride," he further stated. Shiv Sena (undivided), Congress and NCP were part of a MVA coalition government in Maharashtra from 2019-22, after which Eknath Shinde-led faction broke away from the party and formed the government with the support of BJP.

Maharashtra sends 48 seats to the Lok Sabha. Voting on 13 seats has been completed in the first and second phases, while 11 seats will go to polling in the third phase on May 7. The counting is scheduled for June 4. In 2019, BJP won 23 seats, while its ally undivided Shiv Sena won 18 seats. NCP and Congress could only win four and one seats respectively.

Earlier in the day, Amit Shah addressed a public meeting in Belagavi, Karnataka, where he took a dig at Rahul Gandhi, saying that Sonia Gandhi has tried to launch "Rahulyaan" nearly 20 times and he will lose the election from the Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh. "We launched Chandrayaan-3 and it was successful. On the other hand, Sonia Gandhiji has tried to launch Rahulyaan nearly 20 times and has failed every time. Now he has run from Amethi and is contesting from Raebareli. I want to tell you (Rahul Gandhi) the result from here, 'Rahul Baba' will lose to the BJP candidate, Dinesh Pratap Singh with a huge margin in Raebareli," Amit Shah said at an election rally in Belgavi's Hukkeri town.

Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli Lok Sabha constituency on Friday, the last day of filing nominations for the seat. (ANI)

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