The Wire Staff 
Mumbai: The political climate in Maharashtra has intensified, with leaders hurling scathing remarks at each other. The latest tirade has come from Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who recently likened Union home minister Amit Shah to Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan ruler who defeated the Marathas in the Battle of Panipat. Thackeray called Shah the political scion of Abdali.
Thackeray, addressing his party workers in Pune ahead of the state assembly elections, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of engaging in “power jihad” in Maharashtra. He referred to the fall of the Thackeray-led Mahavikas Aghadi government in 2020 following a split in Shiv Sena, which saw the Eknath Shinde-led faction align with the BJP. Thackeray alleged that Shah orchestrated the split and now wields significant control over the Shinde-led government, which includes BJP and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
In his speech delivered in Marathi, Thackeray said, “Ahmad Shah Abdali was also a Shah, and so is this one. Those who eat cake with Nawaz Sharif will teach us about Hindutva.” He lambasted the BJP for causing divisions within parties in the state, pointing to the splits in Shiv Sena and the NCP.
Thackeray further criticised the BJP by stating, “If Muslims are with us after we explained to them our Hindutva, then we are (according to the BJP) the Aurangzeb Fan Club. Then what you are doing is power jihad.”
Recently, the state government introduced the ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin’ scheme, which provides eligible women with Rs 1,500 per month. This initiative has faced criticism, with opponents viewing it as an attempt to woo female voters. Thackeray accused the government of bribing voters with “revdis” (freebies).
Thackeray’s remarks came shortly after the BJP’s state convention in Pune, where Shah criticised Thackeray for allying with those who allegedly served ‘biryani’ to 26/11 terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab. This rumor, initiated by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam – who later ran for office on a BJP ticket and lost to Congress’s Varsha Gaikwad – has been debunked by Nikam himself. He clarified that Kasab never made such a request, and the then Congress-NCP state government did not serve him any special food. Despite this, the claim continues to be used against the opposition