MUMBAI, JULY 27 (UNI) Shiv Sena President and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday warned that democracy in India is at peril owing to the “monstrous ambitions” of the Bharatiya Janata Party to control everything. “A conspiracy to eliminate all the opposition and regional parties in the country is going on in full swing. The ruling party (BJP) is scared of the opposition. It indicates their in- efficiency,” said Thackeray, in the concluding part of a marathon “birthday inter- view” to Sanjay Raut, Executive Editor of the Sena mouthpieces “Saamana” and “Dopahar Ka Saamana” newspapers. He pointed out that democracy does not mean winning (elections) every time, be it any party – Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP, BJP, etc – nobody gets consecutive victories, all have to win or lose, new parties keep emerging, shine for some time – “that is a real democracy”. However, the gargantuan aspirations (of the BJP) of keeping everything under their heels coupled with whatever they say is right, makes them apprehensive of the opposition, he said.
Recalling the late Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s refrain “Power comes and goes, but the country should remain”, Thackeray said: “I was the CM yesterday, I am not today and am sitting in front of you… What’s the difference? Power comes and goes… and returns, but it doesn’t matter to me.” He emphasized the need for all political parties to unite and work for the country, or they shall be labeled as “enemies” of our nation, as there are stupendous problems like inflation, unemployment, etc.
