Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday lashed out at BJP national president J.P. Nadda for his statement that all regional parties, including the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, would be “decimated” and only the BJP would remain in future.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai following the arrest of his confidant and MP Sanjay Raut, Mr. Thackeray said the country, under the BJP, was lurching towards “a Hitlerian dictatorship”. He said the BJP’s ploy to finish off regional parties by crushing regional pride was “extremely alarming”.
“Is there any democracy in Mr. Nadda’s speech that only their party [the BJP] will remain while all other parties in the country will perish. When you unleash agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against dissenters in Opposition parties, then where is the democracy?” he said.
