Real colours of ‘Shah Sena’ exposed, alleges Sanjay Raut after Eknath Shinde says ‘Jai Gujarat’.

Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief party spokesperson Sanjay Raut stated here today that the real colours of the “Shah Sena”, namely, the Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena has been exposed. Raut made the statement after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ended his speech at an event in Pune attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah today, with the slogan, “Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra, Jai Gujarat”.

“What is going on in the minds of those who said ‘Jai Gujarat’ in front of their master? We call them (Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena) ‘Shah Sena’ because they are duplicates of the real Shiv Sena. Today, they have proved in Pune that they are the soldiers of the ‘Shah Sena’. By such slogans, they have shown who really controls the future and destiny of Maharashtra. His (Eknath Shinde’s) party was set up in Gujarat. ‘Shah Sena’ was established in Surat. So whatever was in his stomach came out through his mouth“, Raut said.

Earlier at an event in Pune, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde spoke at the inauguration ceremony of the Jairaj Sports and Convention Centre, which was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

“The real face of Amit Shah’s duplicate Shiv Sena has got exposed today. In Pune, this gentleman (Eknath Shinde) has shouted “Jai Gujarat” in front of Amit Shah. What should be done? How can this man still remain in the Maharashtra cabinet?” Sanjay Raut said.

Deputy Chief Eknath Shinde’s slogan has raised eyebrows among many observers, given the background of political developments taking place in Maharashtra and long-standing allegations by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena that the Eknath Shinde-led Sena is merely a party set up and run by Amit Shah, after splitting the original Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

“He (Eknath Shinde) has forgotten that he was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Now he is the Deputy Chief Minister only because of Amit Shah. He considers himself to be the top leader of Shiv Sena but his Sena is not the Shiv Sena, but merely a ‘Shah Sena’. He must have accepted such helplessness in front of his party chief Amit Shah. What is the opinion of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis about this?” Sanjay Raut said.

“The late Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray used to always say that in Maharashtra we will say ‘Jai Maharashtra’ but when we go to Punjab we will say ‘Jai Punjab’. We become citizens of whichever state we go to. But this is the first Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra who raised the slogan of ‘Jai Gujarat’ in Maharashtra. The process of selling Maharashtra to Gujarat has started,” Sanjay Raut said.

Significantly, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has long accused the Eknath Shinde-led Sena as being “pro-Gujarati” and these allegations were made even during the campaign for the 2024 Maharashtra state assembly elections, especially after a couple of industrial projects which were originally scheduled to come up in Maharashtra ended up getting shifted to neighbouring Gujarat.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s allegations against the then Eknath Shinde-led government had become so effective during the 2024 Maharashtra assembly election campaign that present Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis was forced to counter them by saying, “A company going to Gujarat, Karnataka or Delhi… It’s not Pakistan. Gujarat is very much part of our country”.

Fadnavis, who was then Deputy CM of Maharashtra had to say that “Gujarat is not Pakistan. It is our brother. This is a healthy competition. We want to go ahead of Gujarat, Karnataka and everyone”, after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition had criticised the then CCM Eknath Shinde led Maharashtra government for losing mega investment projects like the Vedanta Foxconn semiconductor project to neighbouring Gujarat.

Team Maverick