Amidst raging controversy over Union Minister Narayan Rane’s arrest, Twitterati have begun sharing an old statement by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who had threatened to hit his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath with chappals (footwear).
The incident in question took place in 2018 when Adityanath had visited Maharashtra, where the Hindutva chief minister had also garlanded a photo of Maratha king Shivaji. However, what had enraged Thackeray was Adityanath’s decision to remove his chappals while garlanding the photo of Shivaji.
Writing in his party’s mouthpiece Saamana, Thackeray had said, “He garlanded (photo of) Shivaji Maharaj while wearing chappals. I felt like taking the same chappals and hitting his face with it.”
He had not stopped here as the Maharashtra CM went on to poke fun at Adityanath’s claims of being a yogi. “He is no yogi, he is a bhogi. Had he been a yogi, he would have given up everything and gone and sat in a cave. But he has gone and sat in the CM’s chair,” Thackeray had written.
Later reacting to Thackeray’s outburst, Adityanath had said that he did not need to learn mannerism from Thackeray. “He doesn’t know the reality. Don’t need to learn manners from Uddhav Thackeray.I have more manners than him & I know how to pay tribute.Don’t need to learn that from him,” he was quoted by ANI.
Rane was arrested by the Maharashtra Police on Tuesday for threatening to slap Uddhav Thackeray. He was later granted bail by a court in the state. Netizens are now drawing a parallel between Rane’s statement for Thackeray and what the Maharashtra CM had said about Adityanath.
CM #uddhavthackeray once gave a similar statement for @myogiadityanath, if one state CM makes filthy statements for another CM and gets away, why #NarayanRane should be arrested when made statements about @OfficeofUT ?#NarayanRane #Fascism https://t.co/mDar383qBt
— QueenBee (@VaidehiTaman) August 24, 2021
Uddhav thackeray : Felt like hitting Yogi Adityanath with his footwear
Freedom of speech
Ranayan Rane : i would slap CM Uddhav for his ‘ignorance of the year of India’s independence
Arrested
Conclusion : BJP is fascist
— Lala (@Lala_The_Don) August 24, 2021
Once Uddhav jiiiiiiiiiiiiii???? said ” I Felt like hitting Yogi Adityanath by my footwear”
If Union Minister @MeNarayanRane can be arrested for his statement, then why not Uddhav Thackeray ????
ONCE AGAIN MURDER OF DEMOCRACY IN MAHARASHTRA
Meanwhile bjp busy in “Kadi Ninda” pic.twitter.com/cQ2Z7aPOmb— Sanskriti Pathak ???????? (@SanskritiWrites) August 24, 2021
Rane had made an objectionable speech targeting Thackeray during his Jan Ashirwad Yatra on Tuesday. “It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap,” the union minister had said.