'If permission of Muslims is to be sought for building the Ram temple, why was the temple agitation launched in the first place?' asked Thackeray in his editorial Saamana.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has slammed ally Bhartiya Janata Party and its chief Nitin Gadkari for the latter's appeal to the Muslim community to co-operate in constructing the Ram Mandir and agreeing to build a Masjid on the adjacent land at Ayodhya.
Thackeray, in the edit in Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamana, has termed the BJP proposal as an insult to the Kar Sevaks who 'fought' and lost their lives for the Ram Mandir on the
disputed land.
The edit says, "If the Muslims were to be persuaded to co-operate to build the mandir by Hindus, why was the movement in Ayodhya launched by the Hindus? If we had to surrender to the imam of the Jama Masjid by falling on his feet for a piece of land for the mandir (instead of fighting for it), we would have easily got the land for the mandir then. The option was more convenient, but the Hindus chose to fight for their right and hundreds had to sacrifice their lives.
The edit raised the question about the right of Babar over Ayodhya. "Babar was invited by the Muslim emperor to support him in India. Ram came to Ayodhya hundreds of years before Babar came here in 1528. Babar was an aggressor and there is no reason why Muslims should fight for the Masjid named after him against Hindus in their own country," it stated further.
Thackeray also slammed prime minister Manmohan Singh for his statement in the favour of Muslims. "The PM said that Muslims have the first right over the resources of the country. 80 per cent Hindus tolerate this meekly. Muslims have everything and Hindus don't even have their Ram mandir. And now the BJP wants Hindus to plead to Muslims for the temple," he said.
Political observers feel this as one more sign of increasing differences between the parties. Thackeray criticized the BJP on various issues including statehood to Vidarbha and alleged atrocities on Marathi speaking people in BJP-lead Karnataka.
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