Sena Doesn't Need Certificate on Hindutva from Any Party: Sanjay Raut on Bal Thackeray Death Anniversary

The Shiv Sena was and will always remain “Hindutvawadi” and does not need a certificate on its commitment to the ideology from anyone, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Raut, said on Tuesday. He made the remarks while interacting with reporters after paying tribute to Shiv Sena founder the late Bal Thackeray at Shivaji Park in Dadar here on the latter’s death anniversary.

The Shiv Sena, which snapped ties with long-standing saffron ally BJP last year, heads the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra with the NCP and the Congress as partners. “Our Hindutva need not be certified by any other party. We have been hardcore Hindutvawadi, are so today and will be so tomorrow too… whenever the country needs it, the Shiv Sena will come to the fore with the sword of Hindutva,” Raut said.

He was replying to a question on the BJP’s repeated claim that the Shiv Sena was diverting from the Hindutva that was championed by the late Sena patriarch. To a question on media reports about BJP leader CT Ravi seeking renaming of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi after Swami Vivekananda, Raut asked if anything would come out of such a move.

“Swami Vivekananda has always been a role model for us. But what will happen by changing the name? Instead, another big university of international level must be set up in the name of Swami Vivekananda,” the MP said. He said India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had always been the “pride of the country” and it will “not be right” to change the university’s name due to hatred and political motive.