Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has criticised PM Narendra Modi and former ally BJP for turning the Ram Lalla ‘pran pratishtha’ into a battleground for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The party said the PM had created a “Modi Ramayan” in Ayodhya for political benefit.
In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, the party said, “PM Modi has been doing puja, fasts on account of Ram mandir consecration. News came out that Modi has been sleeping on a mat on the floor. It is quite amusing.”
“The new ‘Modi Ramayan’ created in Ayodhya is nothing but political,” it added, saying it “seems like Ramayan of Valmiki, Tulsi, Kabir, is not true and instead it is Modi who has created Ramayan”.
The Ram Lalla consecration comes as the Shiv Sena (UBT) faces a major battle of identity, having lost its original name and symbol to the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who split the party in 2022.
Since it allied with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress in 2019, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has faced criticism for allegedly abandoning the plank of unapologetic Hindutva championed by founder Bal Thackeray.
The party, however, has tried to dismiss this criticism by saying it had just left the BJP, and not Hindutva.
Since the decks were cleared for the Ram temple to be constructed, the party has been at pains to emphasise the role played by the Shiv Sena in the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign.
In an interview to ThePrint last week, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said his and Bal Thackeray’s names were mentioned in the charge sheet that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ram Janmabhoomi.
“How can they ignore Shiv Sena’s contribution to this mandir?” he said.
On the day of the Ram mandir bhoomipujan in August 2020, the then undivided Sena carried out a social media campaign to thank Bal Thackeray with the hashtag, “DhanyawadBalasaheb”.
Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, who leads the Shiv Sena (UBT), was initially not invited to the pran pratishtha ceremony, and only received his invite Saturday, two days before the event.
However, he stuck with his original plan for the day, to visit the Kalaram Mandir in Nashik’s Panchavati, where Ram is believed to have stayed with Sita and Lakshman during his exile.
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Uddhav in Nashik
The Saamana editorial said Modi had taken the country “500 years back” with “his Ramayan”, saying the “Modi Ramayan has no connection with Lord Ram’s life, his character, Ram Rajya, truth, patience and courage”. “His (Modi’s) Ramayan can stay with him only,” the editorial reads.
Meanwhile, ahead of Uddhav’s two-day visit to Nashik, the Sena (UBT) released a teaser video seeking to explain the importance of Panchavati and the Kalaram mandir. The accompanying message said, “Let us pledge to bring back Ram Rajya”.
Thackeray will perform a maha-aarti at the temple Monday evening.
Speaking to the media in Nashik, Raut said, “Ideally, this is an occasion to celebrate Lord Ram, but the BJP has instead made it a political event. This (pran pratishtha) is looking like the BJP’s private event as only those they invited are present.”
Lord Ram, he added, “is as much of Panchavati as he is of Ayodhya”.
“He struggled here in Panchavati and reigned in Ayodhya. Hence, we chose Panchavati for performing an aarti. Shiv Sena’s contribution to building the temple can’t be discredited,” he added.
Political analyst Hemant Desai said Uddhav’s visit to Panchavati is likely to send the intended message to the masses.
“The decision of Uddhav Thackeray to visit Kalaram temple is a well-thought-out one. There was nothing else he could have done today and he had to prove that he has not left Hindutva, so visiting the Kalaram temple and doing an aarti there, a message will reach the masses,” he added.
On the second day of Uddhav’s Nashik visit, which marks the birth anniversary of Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has organised a gathering of workers from across the state. Here, Uddhav plans to launch his party’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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