Mumbai: Reiterating that his party would not allow Pakistani cricketers to play in Maharashtra, Shjv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said on Saturday that if he was given the reins of military in his hands, he would deal firmly with violence being engineered by Pakistain-friendly Muslims in the country.
In the second part of a marathon interview being published in the Shiv Sena’s official mouth-piece “Saamna”, Thackeray said that his party’s stand on not allowing Pakistani cricketers to play in Maharashtra had not changed.
“I won’t allow them to play here. I have not changed my stand on the issue and will never do,” Thackeray said.
The Sena chief’s reiteration on the Pakistan cricketers comes on the heels of his nephew and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray threatening to stall a television music show featuring Pakistani artistes and later reneging on his threat.
Responding a query on when would the continued violence being engineered by the Pakistani-friendly Muslims based in India, Thackeray said: “Give me military. You will get to see a miracle. Within one month, I will set things right. That’s why I said: Just give me military in my hand”.
Thackeray conceded that the Shiv Sainiks were aggressive to deal with the situation, but were unarmed. “Despite being unarmed, the Shiv Sainiks are still being upon by people with awe,” he said.
Thackeray also declared that his party would not allow even a single fanatic Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim to live in Maharashtra and “right up to Jammu and Kashmir where we have branches”.
The Sena chief said the August 11 Azad Maidan riots, in which two persons were killed and 65 others injured, were “preplanned”. “The riots were pre-planned but the police were not at all prepared to deal with the situation,” he said.
Referring to the 1992 communal riots in Mumbai, Thackeray said that fundamentalist Muslims had engineered riots in the city after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodya. “Similarly, some sections of Muslims had pre-planned and executed Godra carnage,” he said.
Reiterating that India was on the threshold of anarchy, Thackeray predicted that the general elections in the country would held before the scheduled 2014.
“I have been saying for a long time that anarchy is imminent. We are on the brink of anarchy. I feel (general) elections will happen before 2014. This is my prediction,” he said.
Thackeray blamed the Nitish Kumar government for expressing serious reservations about the Mumbai police tracking down and arresting criminal -- wanted in connection with the desecration of “Amar Jawan” (war) memorial -- in Bihar.
“In our country, for whom are the laws made, for people or for dangerous terrorists? If we are not to arrest dangerous terrorists from your state, then at least ensure that they don’t come to our state and start riots, before raising a hue and cry over the Maharashtra Police action,” Thackeray said.