'Mumbai was saved during communal riots because of him': Shinde-camp pens emotional letter to late Balasaheb Thackeray

Amid the ongoing war of words and release of posters and teasers ahead of Dussehra rallies by the Thackeray faction and Shinde camp, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde-led camp on Sunday, released an emotional letter addressed to Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray claiming that it was because of him Mumbai was saved during communal riots that took place after the demolition of Babri mosque.

"However, after riots in Amravati over the so-called incident in Tripura, Shiv Sena (which was leading the MVA government) remained silent. It was your wish that Aurangabad should be renamed Sambhajinagar. But despite the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, your wish was not fulfilled. Shiv Sena was silent even after the minister’s connection with underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim was proved," reads the letter which was uploaded by the Shinde camp spokesman and former Thane mayor on Facebook.

The obvious target in the letter was Shiv Sena president and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. The Shinde camp slammed Uddhav for sharing power with political rivals (NCP and Congress) against whom party supremo late Bal Thackeray fought. "Which hunter anaesthetised Shiv Sena’s tiger?" it asks.

"The effect of the injection started to increase day by day as we could see how it was painful for you (Balasaheb Thackeray) to witness the crumbling foundation of the Shiv Sena. But we were calm because of the promise given to you to take care of Uddhav Saheb and Aaditya. However, the thoughts you always opposed, were treated as the organisation’s principles (indirectly referring to Shiv Sena’s consent to the inclusion of secularism in the common minimum programme of the Maha Vikas Aghadi). We tried to talk about it many times but our voice was suppressed," the letter reads.

"The words of our activists, who stayed awake at night putting up posters, holding camps, fighting to preserve Marathi and Hindu identity, even taking on police crimes and sticks, lost their value. The clout of newcomers started increasing in the organisation which led to the organisation going astray. Even the old known Shiv Sena leaders who fought shoulder to shoulder with you were ousted from politics," it reads.

Further, the letter adds, "Saheb when you were there, Matoshree (Thackeray’s residence) meant affection. It was the equation. You have never been tempted by a chair. But after your death, Shiv Sena teamed up with the same Congress-Nationalist with whom you fought all your life only for the post of Chief Minister."

Shiv Sena cut a sorry figure by sharing power with those who had made an attempt to arrest you (without naming former home minister Chhagan Bhujbal). "We told them (Uddhav) not to do this but they were not in a mood to listen to us. That was our misfortune. Still, there was satisfaction that our Saheb became the Chief Minister and there was a hope that Surajya would be realized now," it reads.