The Samajwadi Party on Saturday said that it has decided to withdraw from the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghad in Maharashtra in view of a newspaper advertisement published by the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) praising the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, PTI reported.
Apart from the Samajwadi Party and the Thackeray Sena, the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprises Sharad Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
The Babri Masjid was demolished by Hindutva extremists in December 1992, because they believed that it stood on the spot where the Hindu deity Ram was born. The incident had triggered communal riots across the country.
The Ram temple in Ayodhya is now being built at the site of the demolished mosque. The temple was inaugurated in a ceremony led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22.
On Friday, the Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit chief in the state, Abu Azmi, alleged that the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) had adopted a “Hindutva agenda” after its defeat in the recent Assembly elections, the Hindustan Times reported.
“An advertisement was given by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) in a newspaper congratulating those who demolished Babri Masjid,” Azmi told PTI. “His [Uddhav Thackeray] aide has also posted on [social media platform] X hailing the demolition of the mosque.”
Azmi was referring to post on X by Thackeray Sena MLC Milind Narvekar.
The post showed an image of Narvekar, along with Uddhav Thackeray and party MLA Aaditya Thackeray, on a background of the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
It also included a quote by Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray lauding those responsible for the demolition.
Azmi said that he was “speaking to [Samajwadi Party chief] Akhilesh Singh Yadav,” about quitting the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
“If anyone in the MVA [Maha Vikas Aghadi] speaks such language, what is the difference between the BJP and them?” he asked. “Why should we stay with them?”
He added: “There was no co-ordination in the MVA during seat sharing and later in the campaign too. After the defeat in assembly polls, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, in an internal meeting, told his leaders and party workers to aggressively pursue the Hindutva agenda.”
The Mahayuti alliance comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena group led by newly-inducted Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar won the Assembly election on November 23, securing 230 out of 288 seats. BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the chief minister.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi won 46 seats. The Samajwadi Party has two MLAs in the Assembly.
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