Bhagwa flag needs to be in one's heart and not just in one's hands, says Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray

He asks party workers to come in a disciplined way to the traditional Dasara rally at Shivaji Park on October 5

Taking a swipe at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's faction and the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said the bhagwa (saffron) flag needed to be in one's heart and not just in one's hands.

“It is in my heart,” he said, interacting with his party functionaries at Matoshree, his private residence in Mumbai. The former Chief Minister asked the party workers to come in a disciplined way to the traditional Dasara rally at Shivtirth (Shivaji Park) on October 5, where he will address them.

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Mr. Thackeray is often accused by the Shinde faction and the BJP of compromising his Hindutva ideals by joining hands with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party to become Chief Minister.

“This is an opportunity given to us by God to save democracy in the country and preserve Hindutva. The saffron flag does not have to be just in one's hands, it has to be in one's heart. It is in my heart,” Mr. Thackeray said.

Further talking about the ongoing case in the Supreme Court and the Election Commission on which faction of Sena is ‘real’ Shiv Sena, he told the Shiv Sainiks that “we need to win this battle in court as well as before the Election Commission.”

Recently, the Bombay High Court granted permission to the Thackeray faction to hold the Dasara rally at Shivaji Park, thereby allowing him to continue the tradition of the Sena holding a public gathering at the venue. A Division Bench of Justices R.D. Dhanuka and Kamal Khata quashed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's order refusing the Thackeray and Shinde factions to hold the rally on possible law and order concerns raised by the Mumbai Police.