Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has once again invoked the derogatory “gaumutra” jibe which terrorists, communists and Islamists regularly use to degrade Hindus in an attempt to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party on 3rd May while he was addressing an election rally in Kankavali, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg district of the state. He claimed, “BJP’s Hindutva is gaumutradhari (cow urine worshipper, meaning regressive). Our Hindutva is reformist. When the INDI Alliance comes to power, I will ensure the lost glory of Maharashtra is reclaimed.” He also accused the Modi government of looting the state.
His remarks followed Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s criticism of the Shiv Sena (UBT) over its Hindutva ideology. He questioned whether Uddhav Thackeray could “mention freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue, V D Savarkar in his speeches,” slamming the politician. He also condemned Uddhav Thackeray regarding Shiv Sena founder Balashaheb Thackeray’s legacy and charged, “You do not get Balasaheb’s legacy this way. You may be his son, but his legacy is with Narayan Rane, Eknath Shinde and Raj Thackeray. You have abandoned his legacy.”
He also accused Shiv Sena (UBT) of being “nakli” (fake) and asked, “What are you as Shiv Sena chief if you are ashamed of taking Savarkar’s name? You are running a fraudulent Shiv Sena. The real Shiv Sena is with (Chief Minister) Eknath Shinde.” On 7th May, voters in the third round of the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra will cast their ballots in Baramati, Raigad, Osmanabad, Latur (SC), Solapur (SC), Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and Hatkanangle.
Notably, Uddhav Thackeray has frequently mocked Hindus in his speeches by employing the Hinduphobic “gaumutra” barb. Last year he used the term to launch yet another tirade against the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur after the former slammed his faction for joining forces with the Congress Party. “Every time I am accused of going with the Congress and leaving Hindutva, is there no Hindu in the Congress? There (RSS-BJP) Hindutva is Gaumutradhari Hindutva,” he alleged at Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’s event to show ‘unity and strength.’
“Did our country get freedom by sprinkling cow urine? Did it happen that cow urine was sprinkled, and we got freedom? It was not so. The freedom fighters had made sacrifices, and then we got freedom,” he expressed during a meeting held at Ratnagiri’s Khed village in March of 2023 after the Election Commission decided to hand over the Shiv Sena party symbol to Eknath Shinde’s faction after the original Shiv Sena split into two groups in 2022.
Shiv Sena (UBT) accused the BJP of indulging in what the party called “Gaumutradhari Hindutva” while justifying the activities of the Muslim youths who had broken into the Trimbakeshwar Temple on 13th May of last year in an effort to desecrate the Shivling located in the sanctum santorum. “The threat to Hinduism comes not from Muslim youths offering dhup (burning of incense) but from these gaumutradharis. BJP’s Hindutva is nothing more than cow urine. Their Hindutva is devoid of logic as was seen in the way it handled the recent Trimbakeshwar incident. This Hindutva gang attempted to propagate their hatred throughout Maharashtra by sparking riots in the name of Hindutva, but this conspiracy was foiled by the calm and reasonable residents of Nashik-Trimbak,” the party wrote in an editorial piece in its mouthpiece Saamana.