BJP MLA Ashish Shelar criticises Uddhav Thackeray for remarks on Kanhaiya

New Delhi: BJP Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar on Tuesday criticised Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray who recently took on the Centre for branding JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar as “anti-national”.

“How can Shiv Sena support Kanhaiya Kumar, who is being prosecuted for holding a programme to mourn on death anniversary of terrorist Afzal Guru?” Shelar asked.

Thackeray had recently said, “It is wrong to brand Kanhaiya as anti-national and slapping sedition case against him. He is not anti-national. Who gave birth to Kanhaiya, Hardik Patel and Rohith Vemula? The government should ponder over it.”

To this, Shelar stressed that sedition charges against Kanhaiya are not for his criticism of the Centre, but for the alleged anti-national sloganeering in JNU at a programme organised on the death anniversary of Afzal Guru.

“Afzal was hanged for his involvement in the attack on the Parliament. How can Shiv Sena support someone who hails Afzal? What has caused this 360 degree ideological shift in the Shiv Sena’s stand?” the BJP leader asked.

Meanwhile, in what is being seen as the beginning of a campaign for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections next year, the city BJP has planned to celebrate Maharashtra Day, on May 1, on a bigger scale this year.

“We have planned 2-3 programmes each in all the 227 municipal wards. The programmes include health camps, blood donation camps, road shows, and cultural programmes. The programmes would start early morning and would go on till late in night on May 1.