Uddhav dubs Shinde as 'Ravan', latter calls him 'betrayer of Hindutva' as Sena vs Sena war intensifies

Describing the rebels as “Ravan” and “Kattappa”, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday launched a scathing attack at Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde saying that the brand of 'gaddar' will always remain with them.

However, Shinde said that they are not 'gaddar' (traitors) but what happened was a 'gadar’ (revolt). “Is Shiv Sena a personal property? No! Shiv Sena is not a private limited company. Are persons born with silver soon only supposed to become chief minister?,” Shinde said.

Thackeray and Shinde were addressing parallel Shiv Sena rallies at Shivaji Park and Bandra Kurla Complex on the occasion of Dussehra - nearly three months after the rebellion even as the two groups prepare a roadmap to face the local body polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls.

Read | My heir my son, not vice versa: Shinde slams Thackeray

Both carried out no-holds-barred attacks at each other.

Leading the charge, Thackeray said: “Like every year, this time too ‘Ravan’ will burn. But this time ‘Ravan’ is different…the face of ‘Ravan’ changes from time to time…yes, they are ‘gaddar’ (traitors). They will remain ‘gaddar’. This time Ravan is a ‘Khokhasur’ of 50 khokas.”

“They want Shiv Sena. They want (legacy of) Balasaheb Thackeray. They want the party's (election symbol) ‘bow and arrow’. They want Shivaji Park,” he said.

“People are with me, Shiv Sainiks are with me. I am not Uddhav Thackeray, I am Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray,” he said, adding that he remains committed to the ideals of Balasaheb and Hindutva.

“I will assure you that Shiv Sainik will become chief minister again,” he said.

Shinde, on the other hand, said that the rebellion was necessary to save Hindutva and the legacy of Balasaheb as the NCP and Congress were all out to "finish the Shiv Sena". “This is not the Shiv Sena of Uddhav Thackeray, this is not the Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde, this is Shiv Sena of Balasaheb, this is Shiv Sena of lakhs of Shiv Sainiks. It's not a personal property,” he said.

He added that Shiv Sena is not a relationship of ‘malik-naukar’ and it is the legacy of Balasaheb. "As a matter of fact, he (Thackeray) staked the legacy of Balasaheb by allying with NCP and Congress," said Shinde, adding that Uddhav had a "personal ambition" of becoming the chief minister and hence, took the step of ditching the natural saffron ally.

“You called us tapriwala, rickshawalla, chaiwalla, paanwalla…are persons born with silver soon only supposed to become chief minister….a chaiwala has become the prime minister and today you see how he (Narendra Modi) is leading the country,” Shinde said.

“Your ‘family is hum do, hamare do’…for us all citizens are family members….you were in ‘work from home’ mode, we ‘work outside home’,” said Shinde.

"My name is Eknath Sambhaji Shinde and I am proud of it. I did a lot of sacrifice, what sacrifice you did?," he asked and also paid glowing tributes to his mentor, late 'Dharmaveer' Anand Dighe. "Dighe saheb did not even have a bank account," he said.

Both Uddhav and Shinde also spoke about Hindutva.

“Just because we have broken the alliance with BJP doesn’t mean we have abandoned Hindutva. I am a Hindu today and will be Hindu forever,” Thackeray said.

However, Shinde pointed out that Uddhav had "betrayed" Hindutva and ideals of Balasaheb in 2019 when he forged an alliance with NCP and Congress and ditched BJP. “That was ‘gaddari’,” he said and pointed out: “Balasaheb and (NCP president) Sharad Pawar were personal friends but they never brought politics into it.”

Thackeray also described Shinde as ‘Katappa’, who did the job of ‘cutting’. However, Shinde said: “Yes, Katappa was honest and a man of self-respect.”