Babri Masjid remarks: Uddhav Thackeray asks Eknath Shinde to sack Chandrakant Patil or resign as CM

Uddhav said Patil’s statement stemmed from a concerted attempt by the BJP to wipe out the legacy and work of Balasaheb Thackeray from people’s minds.

“Now it seems to be a conspiracy of BJP to slowly wipe out the significance of Balasaheb too from people’s mind and delete the history of Hindus as they did by deleting the history of Mughals (from textbooks),” Uddhav said.

Uddhav also recounted the day when Babri was demolished and said that all the BJP leaders were hiding then.

“When Babri was demolished, all of these mice were hiding. No one was willing to come out. That time our PM (Modi) was also not there. He had participated in the protest in Bangladesh, or maybe he was in the Himalayas. I don’t know. Then BJP’s vice president Sundar Singh Bhandari declared that the BJP was not involved in the demolition of Babri and this must have been done by Shiv Sena. When this news came, I was present there. I came to inform Balasaheb and told him that Babri had been brought down. At the same time, the phone rang; Sanjay Raut was on the other side and Balasaheb said that if Shiv Sainiks had demolished it (mosque), then he was proud of them. He was furious then and asked what kind of weak leadership instructs workers to do something and later runs away. He said if there is such leadership in the country, then Hindus will never be able to stand in this country,” Uddhav said.

Uddhav said after the Babri demolition, there were riots in Mumbai and Maharashtra and Shiv Sena saved the city and the state.

“It was our brave sainiks who saved it although we were not in government… The police and army were also targeting sainiks along with anti-nationals on the other side. Shiv Sainiks also protected a few dargahs,” he claimed.

While responding to Sena UBT comments on Babri, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that Uddhav Thackeray had no right to speak on the Babri Masjid issue. “They have lost the right to speak about it. Where was Uddhav Thackeray when Babri was demolished?” Shinde asked.

Shinde also clarified that he had a discussion with Patil on the issue.

“I have spoken to Chandrakant Dada Patil. What he wanted to say was, during that time, where were the former CM (Uddhav) and Raut? ‘Garv Se Kaho hum Hindu Hai’ slogan was raised by Balasaheb. During that time, Balasaheb faced a court case in Lucknow. Lalkrishna Advani, Ashok Singhal and Uma Bharti all were there. That there was no question of any party. All were just Hindus,” Shinde said.