Raj Thackeray backs Nupur Sharma over remarks against Prophet Mohammad

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday supported suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her remarks against Prophet Mohammad.

Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik had said the same thing earlier but no one asked him to apologise, Thackeray said while addressing a meeting of MNS functionaries here. "Nobody asked Naik for an apology," the MNS chief said.

Thackeray also slammed the "Owaisi brothers" (AIMIM leaders) for allegedly ridiculing the names of Hindu gods. No action has been taken against them, he said, using an abusive term while referring to them. The MNS chief also taunted his estranged cousin and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the latter's claim that the BJP reneged on the promise of rotating the CM's post after the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

"When I was in Shiv Sena, Balasaheb (Thackeray) had decided that the party having more MLAs will have the CM post," he said. "Also, during the election campaign, PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had publicly said that Devendra Fadnavis (present Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra) will be the CM. Why did you not object then instead of waiting for the poll results and going against the people's mandate which was for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance," he said.

Raj Thackeray said the late Shiv Sena founder had hugged him when he was about to leave that party. "I had gone to meet Balasaheb. He knew I was not staying (in the Sena). He hugged me and said: Now you can go," the MNS chief recalled. "I want to take Balasaheb's ideology forward. It doesn't matter if I don't have the symbol (bow and arrow symbol of Shiv Sena)," he said.