"Anyone Inclusive Is...": Aditya Thackeray On Challenge His Family Faces

Aaditya Thackeray, minister in Uddhav Thackeray's erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government, has indicated that the "backstabbing" they faced from the "traitor" faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, is the very problem democracy is facing today. "Anyone who is inclusive and progressive is being stamped out," he told NDTV in an exclusive interview, indicating that it is a much bigger fight.

Asked about the Shinde faction's contention that it was the Thackerays who did the backstabbing, Aaditya Thackeray said it would have been "acceptable"  to his grandfather and great grandfather.

Mr Shinde and his ally, the BJP, have accused Uddhav Thackeray of opting to partner with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, an option unthinkable for his father. They are also accused of diluting the Hindutva ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray.

Balasaheb was "honest, practical and relevant even today," and the Thackerays' decision and process of governance "would have been acceptable to him", Aaditya Thackeray said.

He also contended that what the hardliners in the party called dilution, was in fact, an inclusive agenda that took everyone forward.

"Former Chief Minister (Uddhav Thackeray) took everyone together. But today, anyone who is progressive is sidelined. The larger danger is not just to the Thackeray family, or the Shiv Sena party. The larger danger is to the country's democracy," he said.

His father, Mr Thackeray said, was only "logically taking forward" Balasaheb Thackeray's legacy.

Giving the analogy of sculpture, he said, there is no need for hammer and chisel once an idol is finished. "You need to worship it then," he added, criticising the hardliners' grasp of the situation.

Following the vertical split in the party in June, Mr Shinde has laid claim on Balasaheb Thackeray's legacy and the Shiv Sena election symbol of bow and arrow.

The Election Commission has placed a temporary freeze on the symbol ahead of the by-polls in Mumbai's  Andheri (East) constituency.

Mr Thackeray has challenged the order in Delhi High Court, alleging that the party's name and symbol was frozen without a hearing, which "goes against the principles of natural justice".