On Sunday, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray criticised the BJP, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi wouldn't have made this far if Bal Thackeray had not "saved" him when the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had asked him to follow "rajdharma".
He said Shiv Sena protected a political leadership for 25-30 years but the BJP didn't want Sena and also the Akali Dal- the erstwhile members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
"I fell out with BJP but I never abandoned Hindutva. The BJP is not Hindutva. Uttar Bharatiyas want answers on what Hindutva is. Hating each other is not Hindutva," he said while addressing a gathering of north Indians in Mumbai.
"It was Balasaheb Thackeray who saved the current prime minister when Atalji (then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) wanted him to honour 'Rajdharma'. But Balasaheb intervened saying it was the need of the hour. Had that not happened he (Modi) wouldn't have reached here," Thackeray said.
He said the Shiv Sena founder never promoted hatred. "Being Hindu never meant being Marathi and hating north Indians. Balasaheb was against those who were anti-India irrespective of their religion," he added.
Thackeray on PM Modi's visit to Mumbai
"My meeting with you has been criticised. If I meet Muslims, it is said I have given up Hindutva. When PM Narendra Modi came to Mumbai two days back, whose kitchen did he go to? If I had done that I would have been called anti-Hindu.
"But if the prime minister does that then it is said he has a big heart. I want to make it clear we have nothing against the Bohra community. They are with us," he said.
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During his last visit to Mumbai, PM Modi inaugurated the new Marol campus of the Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy, a well-known educational institution of the Bohra community, and said he had come there as a family member of the community.
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