MNS chief Raj Thackeray addresses a rally in Pune. (Express Photo: Varun Jha)Responding to the remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Akluj on Wednesday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday accused the PM of playing the “caste card”. Thackeray, who was addressing a rally in Pune, also questioned Modi’s “silence” on atrocities against Dalits in the last five years.
Modi had said the Congress and its allies have “not left any stone unturned to abuse his jaati (caste) and haisiyat (social status)”. While the MNS is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections, Thackeray has expressed his support for Congress-NCP alliance candidates in the state. He has been holding election rallies and has repeatedly attacked Modi and the BJP.
To make his point, Thackeray even played a video of a 2016 incident, when gaurakshaks had attacked Dalits for skinning a cow carcass in Gujarat’s Una. He said several such attacks on Dalits had taken place and asked the Prime Minister what he had done to stop such attacks. “Why did you not talk about caste then,” asked the MNS chief.
He also played another video, in which Modi is seen saying that not only members from one particular community, but even some members of the Jain community were involved in the beef export business.
Another video at the rally showed Modi talking about the 2012 Delhi gangrape case and seeking votes by invoking the incident, and later, after becoming the Prime Minister, saying rapes are heinous crimes that can’t be linked to the government.
The MNS chief also read out the number of rape cases reported in India between 2012 and 2016, and accused the BJP-led central government of hiding the 2017 and 2018 reports from the public.
Thackeray also blamed Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and the central government for its decision to implement demonetisation, and claimed that it led to “massive unemployment”. He cited the press conference organised by four Supreme Court judges last year, who expressed their reservations against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, and the resignations by two governors of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan and Urjit Patel, during the Modi government’s tenure and said such incidents had never taken place in the history of the country.
He also accused Modi of seeking votes in the name of the action taken by Indian defence forces against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack.
Taking a further dig at Modi, Thackeray said he should take his mother to the “bungalow given to him” instead of “meeting her in the presence of media once a year”.
