Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray launched a fierce attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the occasion of the party’s 59th anniversary. Speaking at a public event, Thackeray raised pointed questions about the government’s handling of national security, particularly in the context of the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir.
Thackeray did not hold back in his criticism, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He questioned the BJP’s commitment to Hindutva, accusing the party of hypocrisy.
“If you ask us to leave Hindutva, I ask the BJP — what have you left behind?” Thackeray said. “You give offerings at mosques and also distribute vermilion, but who does it? A worthless minister like Vijay Shah, who should be slapped on the street for his words.”
He condemned Shah for allegedly making derogatory comments about Lt. Col. Sophia Qureshi, a highly regarded officer in the Indian Army. “This man called her the ‘sister of Pakistan.’ Is this the kind of people BJP harbors?” Thackeray asked. “And yet the BJP takes no action against him.”
Taking a jibe at BJP’s response to cross-border tensions, Thackeray invoked former U.S. President Donald Trump. “You claim to be aggressive against Pakistan, but when Trump called, you stopped everything. ‘War Rukwadi Papa’ — that's what it looks like now,” he mocked, suggesting BJP’s bravado is performative.
In perhaps the most controversial part of his address, Thackeray raised a provocative question about the recent terror attack in Pahalgam. “Where did the terrorists go after the Pahalgam attack? Into the underworld or into the BJP?” he asked, referencing Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s earlier remarks.
Thackeray concluded with a scathing punchline: “Only Dawood remains — the rest have already been taken in.”