Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut dared the BJP in Mumbai on Saturday to honour Vinayak Damodar Savarkar with a Bharat Ratna first, before talking about Hindutva.

“The BJP must show the guts to honour Savarkar with a Bharat Ratna first before it talks about Hindutva,” he said, after he was asked whether Uddhav Thackeray has taken up the issue of an alleged attempt to demolish an old Hanuman temple, which was constructed by labourers in the premises of the Dadar railway station 80 years ago, merely to get Hindu votes.

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“The BJP has rotten onions and potatoes in their head. Have they become the father of Hindutva? Who gave them ownership of Hindutva? Who taught Hindutva to these BJP members? It was Hindu Hriday Samrat (Emperor Of Hindu Hearts) Balasaheb Thackeray who held the BJP’s fingers, taught them what is Hindutva and guided them towards that path, but they have only made potholes on that path. Will these people teach us Hindutva? Our Hindutva is not merely for votes alone, because our Hindutva is our life and our culture,” Raut said.

He said that at a time when organisations are holding rallies against Hindu temples being destroyed and Hindus being oppressed in Bangladesh, “The BJP is sitting with its tail tucked between its legs. We tried to raise the issue in the Parliament but we were not allowed to do so. Neither PM Modi nor Union Minister Amit Shah wants to talk about it”.

Answering a question about why the BJP-led Mahayuti government has decided to organise the cabinet expansion in Nagpur instead of Mumbai, Raut said,”They don’t have the guts to do the cabinet expansion in Mumbai. They are going to organise a procession of the Chief Minister in Nagpur, but I think they must organise a procession of electronic voting machines (EVMs) instead. They must also construct a temple dedicated to EVMs in front of the RSS headquarters”.

Raut criticised the delay in cabinet expansion and said, “It has been weeks since the Maharashtra assembly election result was declared, but it is still not known who heads which ministerial portfolio. Meanwhile, murders and rapes are happening in every village in Maharashtra everyday an the CM is unable to give any answer about this”.

He lambasted Maharashtra’s poor administration due to delayed cabinet expansion and ministerial portfolio allocation. “Maharashtra does not have a functioning health department today. It has come to light that the former health minister was taking illegal commissions worth lakhs of crores for the purchase and sale of drugs. Maharashtra has become a state which does not have a functioning health department for a month. Shame on the Chief Minister and the two Deputy Chief Ministers of the state. They seem to be interested only about whether they get to head the revenue ministry or the home ministry,” Raut said.