Uddhav Thackeray Hits Out at BJP After BMC Poll Setback, Says Shiv Sena (UBT) Is More Than a Party

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday launched a sharp attack on the BJP following the party’s defeat in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, asserting that the saffron party was mistaken if it believed Shiv Sena could be destroyed.

Speaking to party workers in Mumbai during the centenary celebrations of his father Balasaheb Thackeray, the founder of the unified Shiv Sena, he said, “Shiv Sena is not just a political party. And if the BJP thinks that Shiv Sena will finish it off, you cannot finish Shiv Sena.”

Describing Shiv Sena (UBT) as the voice of the sons of the soil, he asserted that the party is not merely a political organisation but an idea rooted in ideology and identity.

He further said, “You cannot destroy Shiv Sena because Shiv Sena is not a party. Shiv Sena is an ideology. Shiv Sena is the embodiment of the sons of the soil. And Shiv Sena is the torch burning in the hearts of the oppressed; you cannot extinguish it. You absolutely cannot extinguish it.”

Uddhav also claimed that Shiv Sena had played a pivotal role in the BJP’s rise, saying, “Had the Shiv Sena not been there, the BJP would have never seen the inside of the BMC or Mantralaya,” news agency PTI reported.

The former Maharashtra chief minister criticised the BJP’s victory in the civic elections, alleging that “money power was used for the first time during the civic polls in the city.” He also pointed to issues such as “flawed electoral rolls,” claiming the outcome would have been different had the Sena (UBT) not identified “dual voters.”

In the January 15 polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 89 of the 227 seats, ending the Thackerays’ decades-long control over India’s richest civic body.