Shiv Sena MP recites Hanuman Chalisa in Lok Sabha, accuses Uddhav faction of abandoning Hindutva

Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde on Tuesday tore into the Uddhav Thackeray faction for 'abandoning' Hindutva and Bal Thackeray's ideology and even recited the Hanuman Chalisa in Lok Sabha as his party opposed the no-confidence motion against the Modi government.

The Lok Sabha MP from Kalyan, who is the son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, launched a scathing attack at the opposition parties, saying they renamed their alliance I.N.D.I.A as 'UPA' had become synonymous with corruption. 'It is not just NDA vs I.N.D.I.A, but scheme vs scam,' he said.

Participating in the debate on the no-confidence motion, Shinde said the Uddhav Thackrey faction of Shiv Sena cheated voters as they had gone to polls with the BJP in 2019 but later the alliance was broken.

"In 2019 people gave the mandate to Shiv Sena and BJP together. But such a situation was created... He felt I should become the chief minister. They did not care about Bala Saheb's ideology, Hindutva ideology. They sold the Hindutva ideology and stepped away from Bala Saheb's ideology,' Shinde charged.

"No one could have imagined Shiv Sena will have an alliance with Congress. Those who formed this government cheated the voters. They even had an alliance with SP which fired on kar sevaks," he said in an apparent reference to the incident in Ayodhya on October 30, 1990 when the late Mulayam Singh Yadav was the chief minister.

The Shiv Sena MP said people were stopped from reciting Hanuman Chalisa in Maharashtra. 'I know the whole Hanuman Chalisa...,' he said and started reciting the hymns.

He, however, did not complete it as the Chair asked him to continue with his speech.

A row had erupted in Maharashtra last year as Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her MLA-husband Ravi Rana were arrested on April 23 by the Mumbai Police after the couple announced they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence "Matoshree" in Mumbai.

The BJP had also organised public recitations of the Hanuman Chalisa as an act of defiance against the then MVA government of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP.

Uddhav Thackeray was ousted after Shrikant Shinde revolted against him and joined hands with the BJP.

Shinde said that the opposition brought the no-confidence motion against the government in 2018 but the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came back with more MPs.

"Today once again the Opposition has brought a no-confidence motion, this time NDA will cross 400," he said.

On the Opposition alliance's new name, he said, "They changed the name of UPA to I.N.D.I.A. They think people will support them.... They have changed the name because UPA reminds people of scams, corruption, terror attacks, and remote control governments."

"They have all gathered against one person. They have no leader or policy. Every leader here wants to be the prime minister because this team has no captain," he said.