Nashik (Maharashtra) [India], April 4 : Maharashtra Water Resource Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil launched a scathing attack on Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray over latter's opposition to the recently passed Waqf Amendment Bill and his remarks on the Donald Trump administration imposing reciprocal tariffs on India, saying that he should "worry" about his party instead of the country's economic conditions.
"He should stop worrying about America and start worrying about his own party. You handle your party; Prime Minister Narendra Modi is there to handle the country's economy," Patil told ANI.
Intensifying his attack on the former Maharashtra CM, Patil said that Thackeray had shown his "true colours" by opposing the bill and was trying to escape from it by talking about America. He labelled Thackeray's allegations against the central government over the imposition of reciprocal tariffs as "baseless."
"Uddhav Thackeray ki jo namoushki saamne ayi hai (The shamefulness of Uddhav Thackeray has been exposed). Khudko Hindutva ka chehra karke, abhi uska asli chehra logo ke samne aya hai (He shows himself to be associated with Hindutva but has shown his true colours). He is trying to escape from it. Thus, he is making baseless allegations. He has reached America. He couldn't handle his own party," the minister said.
Speaking on the passage of the Waqf Amendment Bill, Patil said it was a "historic day" as all baseless allegations have been rejected. He added that the bill was being welcomed by the commoners like it happened for the Triple Talaq bill.
"This is a historic day. All the baseless allegations have been rejected. The common man welcomes the bill. I condemn the attempts made by Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) to politicise the matter. This bill was required to amend the Waqf Act, and this demand has been ongoing for several years. Just like the Triple Talaq bill, people are welcoming this," the minister said.
His remarks come after Thackeray questioned the central government over the "looming crisis" caused by the US administration's imposing 26 per cent reciprocal tariffs. He said that the Parliament should have given priority to discussing the issue while keeping other issues aside.
"My expectation was that all other issues should be kept aside and we should discuss the tariff that Trump has imposed, which is going to cause us losses. Whether the Finance Minister was there or not, all issues should be kept aside, and everyone should be informed in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha about what we are going to do to deal with the crisis that is looming over us. He (Trump) has imposed a tariff, he does not know Hindu-Muslim, everyone will suffer losses, discuss it," Thackeray said.
Thackeray slammed the "all show, no substance" Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government earlier. He said that his party opposed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and also the hypocrisy of the BJP and its "plans to give lands to businessmen friends".
Standing firm on his opposition to the Waqf Amendment Bill, Thackeray acknowledged that a few rectifications were "good". However, he added, the BJP was all show and no substance since they repealed Article 370 and didn't manage to get Kashmiri Pandits their lands.