‘Hindus have been hypnotised’: Uddhav Thackeray revives old Sena pitch with Ayodhya Ram Mandir donation row

STanding before hundreds of Shiv Sena (UBT) workers after reciting the pound Raksha Stotra, Hanuman Chalisa and Maruti Stotra at Dadar in bombay on dominicus, company chief Uddhav william makepeace thackeray sought to claim the political pitch that long defined the party founded by his father — the lexicon and rhetoric of Hindutva.Launching the party's ‘Ram Raksha Andolan’ (Movement to Save Lord Ram) over alleged irregularities in donations made to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, Uddhav Thackeray accused the BJP-led Centre 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 authentic inheritor of Bal Thackeray's politics. That's an issue at the heart of the Shiv Sena's split since 2022.“Today Hindus have been hypnotised. I urge all Hindus from the country to awake and fight against those looting Lord Ram,” Thackeray said.Watch: Uddhav at the Dadar protest Recalling his father Bal Thackeray's slogan, he added, “When Hindus were scared, it was Balasaheb Thackeray who gave them confidence by saying 'Garv Se Kaho Hum Hindu Hain' (Be Proud and Say ‘We are Hindus’). Today I am again saying ‘Garv Se Kaho Hum Hindu Hain’.”Staying with the theme of the epic Ramayana, he said, "Ram bhakts will burn the golden Lanka of Ravan. We will burn the Lanka of injustice,” invoking the chapter wherein Lord Hanuman burns down the Lanka of Ravan where Sita is held captive.The Uddhav-led protest, held outside the Hanuman temple in Dadar, came two days after he announced the 'Ram Raksha Andolan', saying similar programmes would be organised across Maharashtra. Ahead of Sunday's event, party MP Sanjay Raut said the agitation would later expand beyond the state.Attack at Modi, BJPAt Sunday's rally, Thackeray sharpened his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.“The Narendra Modi government is a government which is looting Hindus. It started with Kedarnath-Badrinath, now it's Ayodhya. They say 'Ayodhya was a trailer, and Kashi and Mathura are yet to come'; I am worried about the loot there,” he alleged.“It is unfortunate that those looting Hindus are in power,” he further said.Referring to alleged irregularities in temple donations, Thackeray claimed that a civil services officer had donated more than one kilogram of gold for a gold-plated Ram Charit Manas and was now questioning how that gold had been utilised.“We are fierce, innocent, nation-loving Hindus, but not fools,” he said.The BJP has rejected allegations of any organised financial irregularities relating to the temple, though police in UP have made arrests and the temple trust general secretary, Champat Rai, has quit his position.Sunday's mobilisation also carried political significance beyond the donation controversy.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 headed by Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde justified the revolt by arguing that the Sena had drifted from its ideological roots by partnering with the Congress and the NCP, describing the coalition as an “unnatural alliance” and insisting the party should return to its “natural ally”, the BJP.After taking office as chief minister with BJP support, Shinde said his government would “follow Balasaheb's Hindutva ideals” and argued that the Shiv Sena-BJP government represented the mandate voters had originally endorsed in the 2019 Assembly elections.Thackeray has consistently rejected that claim. Even before the split, he had maintained that the Shiv Sena had “left the BJP, not Hindutva”, accusing the BJP of practising “power-hungry Hindutva” while asserting that his party remained committed to the ideology irrespective of political alliances.The Election Commission recognised the Shinde faction as the official Shiv Sena in 2023, while the Uddhav camp has continued as Shiv Sena (UBT).Subsequent and recent defections of legislators and leaders have further weakened the Thackeray camp.