Headlines
Don't take Pakistan threats lying down, Thackeray tells Modi
Mumbai, July 23
Shiv Sena president Uddhav
Thackeray on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to take
lying down any threats from Pakistan and to give a "tit for tat" reply
to Islamabad.
"Pakistan threatened to attack India with nuclear
bombs...with such a possibility, the government must respond in the same
manner...a tit for tat...it (Pakistan) can do anything as it has
nothing to lose," Thackeray said here.
The 54-year-old son of
Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray pointed out that relations between the
two neighbours continued to be "tense" and even when bilateral talks
were in progress, firing continued from across the borders.
"Pakistan
has not changed much...Its tail continues to remain crooked...once and
for all, we must chop off its tail," Thackeray said in the first part of
his marathon three-part annual interview in the party mouthpiece
Saamana, ahead of his birthday.
He pointed out how he had said
Modi had the guts to do this. "He can do it; This (NDA) government must
chop off Pakistan's tail," he said.
The Shiv Sena is in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party both at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
Asked
about the waving of Pakistani flags in Jammu and Kashmir even though
the PDP-BJP was in power there, the Sena chief warned that certain
elements in that state must be "crushed", failing which the people would
start comparing the NDA government with the earlier one led by the
Congress.
Thackeray said he was surprised over the BJP decision
to ally with the Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir although
Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was labeled "pro-Pakistani" and "confrontationist"
in the past.
"What can I do? It's surprising...BJP president
Amit Shah comes here and advises us to fulfill alliance commitment...but
there, he is game for an alliance with the 'Azad Kashmiris' and
'pro-Pakistani' parties," Thackeray said.
In the lengthy
interview, Thackeray also expressed displeasure over several issues,
including low representation to the Shiv Sena in the union cabinet,
Maharashtra farmers' suicides and Hindutva, and asked Modi to speed up
"achhe din" or risk losing people's faith.