Mumbai: IN HIS first election rally  Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi while maintaining that for the well-being of the nation, it was imperative to remove the Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah from the country’s political landscape.

Speaking at a rally in Nanded, from where state Congress Chief Ashok Chavan is contesting, Thackeray also questioned the timing of the Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot air strikes, reminding his supporters of his prediction that Modi would create a war-like situation in the run-up to the elections.

“The Prime Minister spends hundreds of crores on advertisements but people on the ground are not getting jobs… He does not have any work worth showing to fight elections… this is why as I had said earlier, a war-like situation has been manufactured in the run-up to elections,” Thackeray said. “Just yesterday, a video was released showing the same madrasa (supposed to be damaged in the attacks) functioning and children studying there (in Pakistan). My question is why is the government lying to us?” Thackeray asked.

Claiming that India was being converted into an oligarchy like Russia, Thackeray said: “The way they are leading the country is how Russia is run. They have a system where power rests in the hands of eight to 10 people. What the Modi-Shah duo wants is for the people to remains their slaves. Do you want to live as the slaves of these two for the rest of your lives?”

He added that if Modi returned to power, the lives of the people would become miserable. “I have not come to campaign for anyone. But in this election, you need to remove Shah-Modi from the country’s political landscape…”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)