“I believe in ‘Shiv Shahi’ and not ‘Lok Shahi” - Thackeray

By Dr. Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

28 May 2011: In an exclusive interview with Arnab Goswami on ‘Times Now’ channel at 10 pm on Friday, May 27, 2011, under ‘Frankly Speaking With Arnab’ feature,  first on the national channel after five years, Bala Sahbeb Thackeray responded to many controversial questions posed by Arnab Goswami.

 

Answering a question on Anna Hazare’s fast for the Jan Lokpal bill, Bala Saheb said that, Hazare’s fast was a farce. He pointed out that a number of corrupt people including those from the Bollywood, who took black money supported the fast.

 

 
Bala Saheb Thackeray and Arnab Goswami

 

To another question from Arnab on dynastic politics, Bala Saheb Thackeray said that he did not hide the fact that he believed in ‘Shiv Shahi’ and not ‘Lok Shahi’. He said that if people accept the member of the family, then it cannot be called dynastic rule, where as if a member of the family is imposed on the people, it can be termed as dynastic. In the case of his son Uddhav Thackeray and grandson Aditya Thackeray, the senior Thackeray said that people have accepted them as their leaders, hence under such a situation they cannot be considered as dynastic inheritors.

 

In the course of his conversation, Bala sahib Thackeray manifested his strong anti-Pakistan stance.

 

When asked by Arnab whether he would facilitate the reconciliation between Uddhav and Raj Thackeray,  Bala Saheb retorted by saying that Arnab should pose this question to both Uddhav  and Raj and further said that if both of them patched up their differences, he had no objection.

 

When Arnab Goswami pointed out  that some time back, Bala Saheb had criticised Sachin Tendulkar for saying that he is ‘first an India and then Maharashtrian, and Mumbai belonged to India’, the former appreciated the world class stature of Sachin in cricket, but said that he (Sachin) had no right to say that Mumbai belonged to India as many Maharashtrians had laid down their lives for the liberation of Mumbai. He pointed out that Sachin was not even born when the agitation for Mumbai had taken place.  Speaking further about Sachin’s philanthropy, Bala Saheb Thackeray said that Sachin does not believe in giving cash as donation but gives away his bats or shirts for auction and asks the institutions to raise the funds by auctioning these items.

 

Regarding the relationship with the BJP in the forthcoming general elections in 2014, Bal sahib Thackeray was quite evasive. He said that he had good equation with old leaders of the BJP such as Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani. However, the younger generation is at the helms of the  party affairs and it is left to Uddhav Thackeray and Nitin Gadkari to chalk out the future of their alliance.