BJP releases videos to blunt Raj Thackeray’s attack on PM

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 21

With Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray drawing huge crowds at his rallies complete with before-and-after video presentations exposing, what he calls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “tall claims”, the BJP has hit back with videos of its own.

The social media cell of the BJP has put out cartoons and presentations caricaturing Thackeray as a parrot. An old video of Thackeray criticising Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has been shared by the BJP.

Here Thackeray is seen asking relatives of farmers who committed suicide to ‘chop the hands with a watch’— an allusion to the Congress and the NCP. ‘Laav re to video’, Thackeray’s commands in Marathi for segments of the video to be played by his workers at the rallies, has gone viral and the BJP too has interspersed these on the video it released as part of the attack on the MNS chief.

Other footage on the BJP’s video includes MNS workers beating up people for posting comments against Thackeray on social media. However, BJP sources say they have no plans to play these videos at any rally. The MNS is not contesting the elections and it makes no sense playing videos criticising Thackeray.