Shiv Sena has turned pseudo-secular, says Devendra Fadnavis

The BJP leader questions why some parties were upset at ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ being played when it was part of Hindu tradition

Taking jibes at the ruling Shiv Sena, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and the BJP’s Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had turned “pseudo-secular”.

Mr. Fadnavis, who was campaigning for the BJP’s candidate ahead of the April 12 Kolhapur North by-poll, took pot-shots at the three-party ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government (of the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress) by questioning why some parties were so upset at the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ being played when it was part of Hindu tradition.

“The Shiv Sena became ‘pseudo-secular’ the day when one of their local leaders printed a calendar in Urdu in which [the late Sena] founder Bal Thackeray was addressed by the honorific janab [‘Sir’],” Mr. Fadnavis said.

The BJP leader, however, stressed that his party was not against any religion or prayers in different religions.

At the same time, he lambasted the Sena — the BJP’s estranged erstwhile saffron ally — for the party’s overt ‘concern’ in ensuring that the Azaan continued to play on loudspeakers.

“If the Shiv Sena starts taking classes on Azaan, then certainly questions will be raised…Hanuman Chalisa is part of our Hindu culture. But why some people are getting so angry on it while they have no problems as to the Azaan playing on loudspeakers is something I cannot fathom,” said Mr. Fadnavis, targeting the three MVA coalition parties.

It was Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray who recently kicked up the ‘ Azaan versus Hanuman Chalisa’ controversy with his April 2 speech in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park demanding that the MVA government remove loudspeakers from mosques.