Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday backed senior advocate Prashant Bhushan’s call for “regime change”, accusing the BJP-led Centre of curbing people’s rights to vote and protest.
“If the government is taking away people’s right to express themselves through voting and protests, such a regime needs to be changed,” Thackeray said, alleging that police had assaulted young people and women during protests called by the Cockroach Janta Party and other parties in Delhi.
“Police are assaulting youth and women, tearing their clothes. Such a regime needs to be buried,” he said while addressing the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Patrakar Parishad.
Taking a swipe at the deployment of police personnel in Delhi, Thackeray asked whether they had been sent to “play dandia”, referring to the ongoing Navratri season and the alleged use of batons against protesters.
Referring to reports of a cockroach effigy being burnt during Dussehra celebrations, he said, in an apparent dig at the BJP, that those who claimed to have brought Ram were afraid of cockroaches.
“We are here to change the regime,” he asserted.
Bhushan, addressing a press conference with Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday, had said that spreading “disaffection” against a government was not a crime in a democracy. He described the ongoing struggle as one “really for a regime change”, drawing sharp criticism from the ruling parties, including the BJP.
Bhushan had clarified that the Opposition was initially fighting to ensure free and fair elections, but warned that continued brutality would lead to regime change.
(With inputs from PTI)
