india

Updated: Dec 26, 2018 23:03 IST

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece, Tarun Bharat, a Marathi daily published from Nagpur, on Wednesday criticised Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray for his comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra. The daily’s editorial said that people of the state will teach Sena a lesson in the ensuing elections for using ‘foul language’ against the Prime Minister.

The Shiv Sena chief had in a rally at Pandharpur on Monday, called alliance partner BJP “a sleeping Kumbhakarana” and added that the illusion created by the BJP, that the party was invincible, had been destroyed after the recent assembly election results in five states.

Describing Thackeray as a rank hypocrite, power lusty and an opportunist, the editorial dared him to withdraw his ministers from the Fadnavis cabinet as well as from the centre, if it’s really uncomfortable with the BJP. “This is nothing but an attempt to mislead the people of the state and his desperate attempt to keep his flock together for remaining relevant in 2019 general and the state elections,” the editorial said.

Lashing out at the Sena on the Ram temple issue, the editorial also questioned Thackeray for his sudden liking for Ram and his visit at Ayodhya last month.

“It seems that the Sena is scared about its defeat in the ensuing elections as its younger brother (BJP) becomes the elder brother in the state and hence raising the Ram temple issue at the fag-end of the tenure,” it added.

Criticising Sena for using uncivilised language and hurling abuses against the Prime Minister and the BJP, the editorial said, “the mighty elephant keeps walking as the dogs keep barking”.

“Modi works for 18 hours a day without any leave. And if such hard work by the Prime Minister doesn’t appeal and reach to the Sena leadership, then they must be blind of reality,” the editorial said.