NEW DELHI – Ratcheting up tensions with its ally BJP, Indian ShivSena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said in the name of protecting thecow, India had become the most unsafe country for women. He also launched astinging attack on the government over incidents of mob lynching across thecountry.

“We (Shiv Sena) never said cows should be slaughtered. But while protectingcows, India has become the most unsafe country for women. One should beashamed of it. You want to save ‘gau-mata’ (cow) but what about ‘mata’(mother),” Thackeray said in a no-holds-barred interview to Sena mouthpiece‘Saamna’.ADVERTISEMENT

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Thackeray said for over 25 years, the Shiv Sena and BJP were allies becauseof the shared ideology of Hindutva, the status of Hindus, national interestand the country’s security among others. “I do not accept the idea ofHindutva that is being adhered to in the country. In the name of saving thecow, if you are shifting focus to whether someone is eating beef or not,then it is a sham,” the Sena chief said.

Targetting the BJP for positioning itself as the sole protector ofnationalism, Thackeray said the saffron party had no right to decide whowas a nationalist and anti-national. “Anyone criticising the governmentdoes not become anti-national. Members of Parliament are representatives ofpeople and have the right to raise questions,” he said.

One of the government’s most vocal critics who have not shied away frommincing words, Shiv Sena’s alliance with BJP has been on thin ice and theparty twisted the knife after they abstained from the no-confidence voteinstead of siding with its ally in Maharashtra and at the Centre.Justifying the party’s stance, Thackeray made it clear that “nobody canshoot the gun from our shoulders” and the “Sena will not fire from someoneelse’s shoulders either”.