If You Resort To ‘Dadagiri’, We Know How To…: Uddhav Issues Stern Warning As Hanuman Chalisa Row Snowballs

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia defended the Ranas and recited few couplets from the Hanuman Chalisa.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday issued a stern warning over the Hanuman Chalisa row, saying reciting it (Hanuman Chalisa) is not a problem but “dadagiri will not be tolerated”.”Our Hindutva is ‘Gada Dhari’ like Lord Hanuman’s Gada. If you want to recite Hanuman Chalisa, call and come home. But if you resort to ‘Dadagiri’ we know how to crumble it,” Thackeray said.

Launching a scathing attack against the opposition parties, CM Thackeray further added, “Many people have acidity in their stomachs due to the developments taking place in Mumbai. They only want to speak on loudspeakers…I don’t care about them at all.”

The Hanuman Chalisa row started last week after independent lawmaker couple Navneet and Ravi Rana announced they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence “Matoshree”, Shiv Sainiks protested in the city and outside the legislators’ residence.

Mumbai police later arrested the Ranas for “creating enmity between different groups”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, on the other hand, came out in defence of the Independent lawmaker couple from Maharashtra — MLA Ravi Rana and his MP wife Navneet Rana–  and accused the state’s MVA government of having hatred for the Hindu faith and asked since when reciting the Hanuman Chalisa has become seditious.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia defended the Ranas and recited few couplets from the Hanuman Chalisa. Dubbing the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation as “Maha Vasooli” (extortionist) government, Bhatia said in Maharshtra if somebody chants the Hanuman Chalisa the government slaps a sedition case against them.