Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has claimed that Mumbai’s non-Marathi Hindus didn’t vote for the party during the BMC Elections 2017 as they “did not acknowledge that the party saved their lives during the 1993 riots”. He further claimed that the Sainiks (Shiv Sena cadre) may not protect every Hindu the same way again.

Speaking to the party’s mouthpiece, Saamana, Thackeray said, “The Marathi manoos stood behind the Shiv Sena but we faced defeat in non-Marathi wards. Till now, these wards were with the BJP, so we never interfered with them. Obviously, the voter there – may it be Gujarati or North Indian, feels connected to the party.”

“It is not a good tendency to electorally defeat those who saved your life (during the 1993 riots). If a similar situation arises in the future, will my Shiv Sainiks protect all the Hindus with the same zeal now? I am not sure. And why should I ask them to do that?” said the 56-year-old.

Thackeray further claimed that the Shiv Sena has had to face troubles because they saved Hindus, but the people that they saved did not even thank them. “We don’t expect their thank you, but they should at least remember who saved them,” said Thackeray.

The leader trained his guns on to BJP and said that ‘achhe din’ (the slogan of the BJP for the 2014 general election) could only be seen in advertisements.

“Do we have true democracy in the country if everything is going to be run as per the Prime Minister’s wishes? He is centralising power and taking away the independence of the states.”

“15 lakh people have lost their jobs due to demonetisation. This means, 60 lakh people have been directly affected by it. How will the government balance between Start-up India, Make in India and such colossal job losses?”

The Shiv Sena also attacked the Goods & Services Tax (GST) and said, “While China is instigating Muslims for violence, the lack of check on octroi nakas are a grave security threat. And how much of people’s earning is going into taxes? Are people getting their hard earned money?”

“Small traders have hit the streets in Gujarat. The government there beat them up.”