Maharashtra Tourism Minister and the son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya, arrived in Lucknow on Wednesday and will head towards Ayodhya to perform the Saryu aarti at the Ram Temple. His visit comes at a time when his party Shiv Sena is repeatedly being targeted by the BJP and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on the issue of Hindutva.
“It is a matter of faith that brings me here. There is no politics,” Aaditya Thackeray said upon reaching the Uttar Pradesh capital city.
He further reiterated that the Shiv Sena is grounded in the ideology of Hindutva. “My family and I believe in Hindutva,” he said when asked about Uddhav Thackeray’s recent statement.
#WATCH | UP: Maharashtra Min Aaditya Thackeray arrives in Lucknow ahead of Ayodhya visit
“When we came for the 1st time in 2018, we said ‘pehle mandir, phir sarkaar’… I’ll offer prayers & receive blessings… the land is not political, it’s the land of ‘Ram Rajya’,” he said pic.twitter.com/E8y5NSHqBJ
– ANI UP / Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 15, 2022
Last week, CM Uddhav on Wednesday welcomed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent statement that the saffron camps must stop digging for ‘shivling’ under every mosque in the country. He further slammed the BJP for the “humiliation” faced by India due to the party’s suspended spokespersons’ Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jibdal’s controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammed that led to several Islamic countries condemning India.
Meanwhile, Aaditya Thackeray refused to speak on Raj Thackeray in his UP visit on Wednesday.
Aaditya Thackeray’s uncle and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, recently called for the removal of loudspeakers atop mosques, had also said he would visit Ayodhya this month, but his trip was postponed due to health reasons.
Announcing about Aaditya Thackeray’s visit to Ayodhya, Sanjay Raut had said that it is a “purely religious visit” with no political agenda. “He will also visit the construction site of the Ram temple. He will also participate in the ‘aarti’ on the banks of the Sarayu river and also interact with the local media,” Raut said.
“Shiv Sena has a long association with Ayodhya, since the struggle for the temple started and even later. We have immense faith in Lord Ram and our leaders or workers regularly come here… Praying at the Ram Lalla temple fills us with a divine energy,” said Raut.
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