'When Babri Masjid was brought down, you ran into your hole': Uddhav Thackeray slams BJP over Hanuman Chalisa row

"If you want to chant Hanuman Chalisa, do it... But if you do Dadagiri, then we know how to break it up...  We will show you what Bheema Roop and Maha Rudra are if you challenge the Shiv Sena... Our Hindutva is as strong as Gadadhari Hanuman," Thackeray said in a strong attack on the BJP.

"For the last few days, they (the BJP) have been screaming that the Shiv Sena has left Hindutva. What have we left? Is Hindutva a dhoti? That we put it on and take it off? We must remember one thing. Those who are lecturing us on Hindutva must ask themselves what they have done for Hindutva," said the Chief Minister.

Lashing out at his erstwhile ally, he said: "When the Babri Masjid was brought down, you ran into your hole. The decision to build the Ram Temple was not from your government but from the court. And when it was built you went with a jhola to the people. Where is your Hindutva?"

Talking about his father and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, he said: "The Hindutva that the Shiv Sena Supremo has taught us, that is still there in the minds of all these Shiv Sainiks who have heard him. His Hindutva was that he did not want Hindus who were ringing bells at temples. He said he wanted Hindus who take on extremists."

This comes after the BJP has been backing Independent MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana, who were arrested on Saturday for insisting on reciting the Hanuman Chalisa outside Thackeray's home.

In a direct attack on Shiv Sena, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said: "This is happening at the CM's instructions. If Hanuman Chalisa is not chanted in Maharashtra will it be chanted in Pakistan?"

"If reciting Hanuman Chalisa is sedition, then all of us will indulge in this sedition and if the government has the guts, it should charge us for sedition," he added.