India must be declared a Hindu nation, says Uddhav

MUMBAI: Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the escalating terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir and for not providing adequate security to the Hindu pilgrims on their way to the Amarnath shrine, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has demanded that India should be declared a Hindu state.
“The country will have to choose a path...We have indulged secularism for too long...India should be declared a Hindu state...There is no other alternative.Hindus are suffering injustices (in the country) because of secularism,” Uddhav said in a hard-hitting Q&A with Saamna. The first instalment of the four-part interview was published on Sunday in the Sena mouthpiece ahead of the Sena chief’s birthday on July 29. Uddhav’s demand is an indication that the Sena may be readying itself to go for a renewed Hindutva campaign as the party plans to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa, said political analysts.
Reminding the Modi government of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s famous line in the 1990s, ‘Ab Hindu maar nahin khaayegaa’ (Now Hindus will not take blows)Uddhav said, “Today, Hindus are suffering indignities in J&K. The Hindu pilgrims can’t go to the Amarnath shrine. Whose responsibility is it to ensure that Hindus reach the Amarnath temple?”
Stating that the Sena has been keeping a close watch on the goings-on in J&K, Uddhav said, “The people of Kashmir are out on the streets. There are bands of angry youths on the road, raising anti-India slogans. They don't fear the laws of the land...There have been dastardly attacks on Indian armymen and policemen. People are pelting stones at military vehicles...The scenario is singularly disturbing. The party which believes in the thoughts of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who laid down his life for the cause of J&K, has entered into a power-sharing pact with the PDP.” Observers said Uddhav cleverly invoked the Dr Mookerjee “myth” as the BJP routinely pays obeisance to the legendary leader and founder-president of Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the the BJP’s precursor, for his unflinching commitment to the J&K issue soon after Independence.
Pointing out that the Sena would never go for the “Islamic State (IS)-type Hindutva”, Uddhav said, “There is religious anarchy in Islamic countries because of the IS. We don’t want chaos in the name of religion. However, those who practice other religions in the country are allowed to observe and celebrate their festivals ...On the other hand, impediments keep marring Hindu festivals. Why should this happen?” Uddhav made it clear that the Sena didn’t subscribe to “upper-caste Hindutva”. Uddhav riled Modi for not visiting J&K to provide relief to the harassed Hindu pilgrims.
Thackeray chided the secularists for gunning for Hindus, while keeping mum on the IS terrorists’ machinations in the country. “The Sena alone is fighting for the Hindu cause...Where did the chest-thumping secularists vanish when Hindus were being given unjust treatment?” he asked.
“Balasaheb Thackeray fought all his life for the cause of Hindutva. Others merely paid lip service to his ideology and rode to power,” he said in a dig at the BJP.