PUNE: At his usual best in old habits of Muslim bashing, the Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, who turned 83 yesterday, came out in support of the Hindu terrorists arrested in the Malegaon bomb blasts and said that those who were fighting a battle against Islamic fundamentalism in the country were being branded as Hindu terrorists by the government.
In an editorial written in the party mouthpiece Saamna published yesterday, Thackeray said that though Mumbai was limping back to normalcy, it was still crumbling under the horrific Mumbai terror attacks that killed hundreds of citizens.
Writing about the present situation in Mumbai after the terror attacks in November, Thackeray said that the stained blood of the martyrs was still fresh and was yet to dry up, the Taj and Oberoi hotels have opened, but still the common man in Mumbai continues to remain in grip of fear as he travels through his daily work schedules in suburban trains, buses and crowded markets.
While continuing with his routine outbursts against the Congress, Thackeray accused it of appeasement of Muslims and vote bank politics. Pakistan, he said was no long afraid of India because the fanatic Muslims in the country were the real strength of the enemy country called Pakistan.
Taking a dig at the federal and state government, Thackeray said that instead of “removing and destroying the Islamic tumor which was growing rapidly in India’s belly, the rulers were helping it become more malignant.”
Referring to the fresh violent incidents on the issue of the Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute, the sick and aging Sena chief said “I have given 42 years of my precious life to this struggle and will continue to fight for the rights of Marathi-speaking people in Belgaum for the rest of my life.”
Thackeray also did not spare his close friend and president of the Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar, who is also the federal agriculture minister, saying that the powerful Marathas enjoying the power in New Delhi and in the state government were more concerned about their chairs as against the interests of the state of Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Thackeray chose to have a quiet and simple celebration without much pomp in view of the recent terror attack on Mumbai.
