Uddhav Thackeray: Won’t remove ‘Hindu’, ‘Bhavani’ from party song, EC must act against PM Modi, Amit Shah first

“The EC has sent us a fatwa asking us to take ‘Jai Bhavani’ out of our song. Under no circumstance will we take this word out. If the EC wants to act against us then it should first act against Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah. If I accuse the EC of disrespecting the deity of Maharashtra does it have an answer?”

The Shiv Sena (UBT) last week released the party theme song for the Lok Sabha elections, which has visuals of party founder late Bal Thackeray holding a flaming torch – the party symbol – and Uddhav Thackeray and son Aaditya holding rallies.

On Saturday, state Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dr Kiran Kulkarni wrote to the party, taking exception to two references in the song: “Hindu ha tujha dharm” (You are a Hindu) and “Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji”.

“The proposal for certifying the advertisement of 1 sound tape (theme song) advertisement under your reference was submitted to the Ad Pre-Certification Committee at the Additional Chief Electoral Officer level. According to the said proposal, the committee has registered the following objections – Shiv Sena Mashal Geet (2 minutes); Use of Religious words and Misleading claim,” the letter said.

“If the decision of the said committee is not acceptable, an appeal can be made to the committee headed by the state level Chief Electoral Officer as per the instructions of the Election Commission of India dated 24 August 2023 regarding this order,” it said.

Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut unveil the new voting symbol of Shiv Sena (UBT), a flaming torch. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

At the press conference, Thackeray said, “The chorus of this song carries the slogan ‘Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji’. They have asked us to remove the words ‘Jai Bhavani’ from it. We have received this fatwa from the EC. Today ‘Jai Bhavani’ is being removed, tomorrow ‘Jai Shivaji’ will be removed.”

Incidentally, the Shiv Sena since its inception has been using “Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji” as its political slogan.

Thackeray also targeted the EC stating that the notice was an attack on the dignity of Maharashtra and its deity. “This is an insult to the deity of the state and people of the state. The bias and angst against Maharashtra is visible in their eyes but we did not think that they are having such angst about Maharashtra’s deity. We will not accept this dictatorship. We are fighting against this and we will keep fighting it in the courts,” he said.

Showing two video clips of speeches made by Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Shah at election rallies last year, Thackeray asked the EC to first reveal what action had been taken against the two BJP leaders.

In the first video clip, the PM is seen purportedly saying, “When you press the button to vote, press the button as Jai Bajrang Bali.” In the second clip, Shah is seen purportedly saying, “Form a BJP government in Madhya Pradesh on December 3, this government will give free Ram Lalla darshan to all.”

Thackeray said, “When elections were held in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka… we had complained to the EC in this regard. Has the EC given exemption to Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah? Has the law changed?”

Referring to the speeches by Modi and Shah, he said, “Is this in accordance with the Election Code of Conduct? Despite repeated reminders, there has been no response from the Commission.”