Uddhav Thackeray calls BJP ‘Babar Janata Party’, says ‘Op tiger’ targeted Fadnavis

"Our Hindutva is nationalism. But whoever considers this country as their own, even if he is a Muslim, he belongs to us—this is our Hindutva," said Uddhav Thackeray. (Express file photo)

4 min readMumbaiJun 28, 2026 07:36 PM IST

First published on: Jun 28, 2026 at 07:36 PM IST

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has turned into ‘Babar Janata Party’ as it was ‘looting the Ram temple in Ayodhya’. He said that the ‘operation tiger’ where six Lok Sabha MPs from his party switched sides was in reality ‘operation Devendra Fadnavis’ to cut him down to size.

“Our Hindutva is nationalism. But whoever considers this country as their own, even if he is a Muslim, he belongs to us—this is our Hindutva. Our Hindutva is one that ensures ‘Lord Ram in the heart, employment for hands, and fair prices for the farmer’s produce.’ You did not want to build a temple; you wanted to open a shop in the name of Ram to plunder. Now a new BJP has emerged that plunders the Ram Temple; this ‘Babar Janata Party’ is the progeny of Babar,” Thackeray said while speaking at his public rally in Parbhani.

Parbhani’s Lok Sabha MP from Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Jadhav is among the one in six MPs who has quit the party to join hands with arch rival deputy CM Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena. Thackeray is on a tour of the Lok Sabha constituencies from where the party’s Lok Sabha MPs decided to rebel against the leadership to join the opposition camp.

Thackeray said, “This is not ‘Operation Tiger’, this is ‘Operation Devendra Fadnavis’. Just like in Madhya Pradesh, where Shivraj Singh (Mama) was replaced—Mama was completely erased from the picture, then ‘fool Mama, call Mama to the top, and sideline him in a corner.’ Whoever has the potential to enter the race for the Prime Minister’s post, cut them down in time. Similarly, the process of clipping Devendra Fadnavis’s wings has begun,” Thackeray attacked.

“I was with Fadnavis on a flight. He looked helpless on the plane—a man who had completely lost his confidence. Because he understands that his wings are being clipped, and the ones doing it are his own bosses, so what can he do? To whom should he even appeal for justice? Nitin Gadkari’s wings were clipped in such a way that they poured the water of ethanol into all his resolve. They diluted everything of his,” Thackeray said.

Thackeray said that the history of Parbhani shows that whomever Shiv Sena nominated as a candidate, the public always elected them. “The MP elected last time won not because of the Modi wave, but because people cast their votes trusting Balasaheb’s photo and the Mashal (flaming torch). Betraying and bowing down at the feet of the BJP is an insult to the Maharashtra Dharma and the voters,” Thackeray said, attacking the rebel Bandu Jadhav.

Commenting on the prolonged case in the Supreme Court and criticism of him asking him to introspect, Thackeray said that everyone should introspect, from Mamata Banerjee to others, and more importantly, the critics. “Why didn’t they introspect when our party-split case has been pending in the Supreme Court for four long years?” he asked, adding that two-thirds of the elected representatives cannot take the decision to merge on their own. “If the rule of law exists in this country, they should be disqualified. Elected representatives do not mean the party. The public and the voters are the party,” he said, asking the Lok Sabha Speaker to follow the law.