While standing in front of hundreds of Shiv Sena (UBT) workers after reading the Ram Raksha Stotra, Hanuman Chalisa and Maruti Stotra at Dadar in Mumbai on Sunday, party president Uddhav Thackeray sought to claim the political ground that has long defined the party founded by his father – the lexicon and rhetoric of Hindutva.
Uddhav Thackeray launched the party’s ‘Ram Raksha Andolan’ (movement to save Lord Ram) over alleged irregularities in donations to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, and accused the BJP-led Center of “looting Hindus”. He urged people to reclaim what he described as the true legacy of Hindutva, and sought to position his Sena as the true heir to Bal Thackeray’s politics. This is an issue that has been at the heart of the Shiv Sena’s rift since 2022.
“Hindus have been hypnotized today. I urge all Hindus in the country to wake up and fight those who are plundering Lord Ram,” Thackeray said.
Watch: Uddhav at Dadar protest
Recalling his father Bal Thackeray’s slogan, he added: “When Hindus were afraid, it was Balasaheb Thackeray who gave them confidence by saying ‘garv se kahu hum hindu hain’ (Be proud and say ‘we are Hindus’). Today I again say ‘garv se kahu hum hindu hain’.”
Sticking to the theme of the Ramayana epic, he said, “Ram Bhaktas will burn the golden Lanka of Ravan. We will burn the Lanka of injustice,” recalling the chapter in which Lord Hanuman burns the Lanka of Ravan where Sita is being held captive.
The protest led by Uddhav, outside the Hanuman temple in Dadar, came two days after he announced the ‘Ram Raksha Andolan’, saying similar programs would be organized across Maharashtra. Ahead of Sunday’s event, party MP Sanjay Raut said the unrest would later expand beyond the state.
Attack on Modi, BJP
At a rally on Sunday, Thackeray intensified his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
“The Narendra Modi government is a government that is looting Hindus. It started in Kedarnath-Badrinath, and now it is Ayodhya. They say: ‘Ayodhya was a trailer, Kashi and Mathura are yet to come’, and I am worried about looting there,” he added.
“It is unfortunate that those who plunder Hindus are in power,” he added.
Referring to alleged irregularities in temple donations, Thackeray claimed that a civil servant had donated more than one kg of gold for the gold-plated Ram Charit Manas, and he was now wondering how this gold was used.
“We are fierce, innocent, nation-loving Hindus, but we are not fools,” he said.
The BJP has rejected allegations of any organized financial irregularities related to the temple, despite police in UP making arrests and the general secretary of the temple trust, Champat Rai, resigning from his post.
Sunday’s mobilization also carried political significance beyond the controversy over donations.
The question of who represents Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva has been central to Maharashtra politics since June 2022, when senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde led a rebellion that brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde justified the rebellion by saying that the Sena had deviated from its ideological roots by partnering with the Congress and NCP, terming the alliance an “unnatural alliance” and insisting that the party should return to its “natural ally”, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
After taking over as chief minister with the support of the BJP, Shinde said his government “will follow the ideals of Balasaheb’s Hindutva” and argued that the Shiv Sena-BJP government represents the mandate that voters originally supported in the 2019 Assembly elections.
Thackeray has consistently rejected this claim. Even before the split, he maintained that the Shiv Sena had “left the BJP, not Hindutva”, accusing the BJP of practicing “power-hungry Hindutva” while asserting that his party remained committed to the ideology regardless of political alliances.
The Election Commission recognized Shinde’s faction as the official Shiv Sena in 2023, while the Uddhav camp continued as the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Subsequent and recent defections of legislators and leaders have weakened the Thackeray camp.
