Uddhav Thackeray welcomes Mohan Bhagwat's statement on 'Shivling'

Mumbai, Jun 08: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday welcomed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's recent statement that there was no need to find a 'Shivling' in every mosque and start a new dispute every day.

"We welcome RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's recent statement on 'Shivling'," said Uddhav.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's third-year officer training camp, Bhagwat had said the RSS had already made it clear that its participation in the Ayodhya agitation was an exception and it would not undertake such agitations in future.

"Now the issue of Gyanvapi mosque (in Varanasi) is going on. There is history, which we cannot change. That history is not made by us, nor by today's Hindus or Muslims. It happened at the time when Islam came to India with invaders. During the invasion, temples were destroyed to weaken the fortitude of the people wanting freedom. There are thousands of such temples," he said.

Uddhav targets BJP

Addressing a rally, Thackeray also attacke the BJP saying that while inflation is on the rise and the rupee is on a downward slide, there is a concern to find under which mosque there is a Shivling.

He also slammed the Centre over the recent targeted killings in Kashmir, and said instead of harassing the leaders of Maharashtra's ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), raids should be conducted there.

On the controversial comments made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against Prophet Mohammad, he said, "The Middle East and the Arab countries brought our country to its knees and forced to apologise. What led to this? India has to apologise. What has the country done? It is the BJP and its spokespersons that have committed the crime."

"The words spoken by the BJP spokesperson or BJP cannot be the stand of India on any issue. The words of BJP spokesperson used (for Prophet Mohammad) tarnished India's image at the International level. It damaged the image of my country and not that of the BJP," he said.

"There are political differences between us (Shiv Sena and BJP), but he (Narendra Modi) is our country's prime minister. His photo was stuck on garbage bins (in some country) and we keep seeing it. But why should the country apologise for it when the mistake is done by BJP and it's spokesperson," Thackeray added.