Maha: Senior Cong leader Kharge hails Prabodhankar Thackeray, takes veiled swipe at MNS chief

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday hailed Prabodhankar Thackeray, the father of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and grandfather of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, but added that some members of the same family, an apparent reference to MNS chief Raj Thackeray, were indulging in hate speeches.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief had recently said loudspeakers atop mosques must be removed by May 3 or else his party would play Hanuman Chalisa to counter azaan.

Speaking at the release event of state minister Nitin Raut's book 'Ambedkar on Population Policy', Kharge said, ''I salute Prabodhankar Thackeray. People who talk about religion and caste should at least remember what Prabodhankar Thackeray said about these issues and discuss them. Unfortunately, people from the same family talk differently and talk about inciting fights.'' Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, fondly called Prabodhankar, was a highly-respected social reformer who was renowned for his strident campaigns against superstition, untouchability, child marriage and dowry.

Speaking at the event, Kharge, a former Union minister and veteran Karnataka Congressman, said he faced discrimination from some segments of society, who want to maintain their social supremacy, despite being a Hindu Mahar.

He said some people belonging to lower castes were harassed routinely, were not being allowed to ride horses, and even their eating habits were being infringed upon.

He said Nagpur was a place where efforts were going on to sow the seeds of division, an apparent reference to the RSS headquarters here, while it also had Deekshabhoomi, the site of Babasaheb Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism, which was working to remove such seeds and bring about unity and welfare.

The country today needs the philosophy of Dr Ambedkar as well as liberty, equality, fraternity and secularism that are enshrined in the Constitution framed by the legendary jurist and social reformer, Kharge said.