Shah hails EC decision; attacks Uddhav with ‘licking soles of those with opposite ideology’ jibe

PTI, Feb 19, 2023, 8:56 AM IST

Union Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said those who chose to ”lick the soles” of people with opposite ideologies have found which side truth was on after the Election Commission declared the faction headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena and gave it the ‘bow and arrow’ symbol.

Shah also said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ideological bases were being completed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding the Centre was ”moving in the direction of the Common Civil Code”.

Without naming Uddhav Thackeray, Shah, who was speaking at the launch of Marathi version of the booked ‘Modi@20’, also reiterated there was no agreement on sharing the chief minister’s post in the run up to the 2019 Assembly polls.

The Shiv Sena broke its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party after the results of the 2019 Assembly polls were declared claiming the latter had reneged on a promise to share the CM’s post with it.

Uddhav teamed up with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress to lead the Maha Vikas Aghadi, till it fell in June last year after Shinde rebelled.

”Yesterday, the Election Commission did ‘doodh ka doodh, pani ka pani’ (bring out absolute truth). Yesterday, the term ‘satyamev jayate’ (truth always triumphs) was characterised,” Shah said in the presence of CM Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and its poll symbol ‘bow and arrow’ to the group led by CM Shinde, in the process delivering a big blow to Uddhav Thackeray, whose father Bal Thackeray founded the outfit in 1966.

”Those who used to shout by taking refuge of falsehood today found out on whose side truth is,” he said without naming Thackeray.

”During the (2019) state election, I was the party chief. We fought the election together, put up a bigger photo of Modiji than his (Thackeray), and contested the election by knowing Fadnavis as the leader. But to become CM, (he) went on to lick the soles of people having an opposite ideology,” Shah further said.

He exhorted those attending the gathering to ensure all seats in Maharashtra should come to the kitty of the BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.Maharashtra will see Assembly polls just a few months after Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

”In elections, victories and defeats take place. But those who betray should not be spared as their courage gets a boost (if they are spared). I heard Shinde’s press conference yesterday where he said he had freed the bow and arrow that had been mortgaged with the NCP and Congress,” Shah said.

”Forget about us, these people (Uddhav faction) betrayed the ideology of Balasaheb and Shiv Sainiks. Today, doodh ka doodh, pani ka pani ho gaya,” he asserted. Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Shah said the country was now the fifth biggest economy in the word, larger than that of the United Kingdom, which ruled here for more than 150 years.

He said the Congress and National Conference, which predicted bloodshed in Kashmir due to the scrapping of provisions of Article 370 that gave the restive northern state a special status, have now got their answer as ”leave (firing) a bullet, there is no courage to even pelt a stone”.

PM Modi ended the insurgency in the North East, and Left Wing Extremism is almost finished.

”This is the biggest achievement. Fifty years back, we set on a path with an aim, and today, the aim has been achieved in the last nine years. No one imagined Article 370 would be abrogated, or triple talaq would end, or the Citizenship Amendment Act would be enacted,” Shah said.

”No one could imagine the Centre would go in the direction of the Common Civil Code. But Modiji has worked to complete these ideological bases of the party. But the mission is still incomplete,” he asserted.

Taking another swipe at Thackeray, Shah said they (BJP leaders under Modi) had come into politics with the aim of making India the number one country in all sectors, not like ”one who would betray his own father’s ideology, party and party workers to become chief minister”.

Under the charismatic leadership of Modiji, the party will win with a two-thirds majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Union Home Minister claimed.

Attacking the Congress-led UPA government that ruled from 2004 to 2014, Shah said every minister in that dispensation thought of himself as the prime minister and no one considered the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) as the prime minister.

”There was policy paralysis. Terrorists used to cross the border and used to take away the heads of our soldiers, they used to mutilate then but there used to be silence in Delhi Darbar (UPA government). Scams used to unfold like film scenes. There was no women’s security,” he alleged.

Taking a jab at Manmohan Singh, Shah said the PM at the time had no respect in foreign countries. ”The PM used to go and read a written speech. Sometimes, he used to read Thailand’s speech in Singapore and Singapore’s in Thailand,” Shah remarked.