By IANS,
Mumbai : Shiv Sena executive president Udhav Thackeray Thursday attempted to silence his critics who consider him ineffective, saying he was “neither weak nor impotent”.
“I am neither weak nor impotent. My father (Bal Thackeray) has given birth to a tiger cub, not a cat,” he declared at his maiden Dussehra rally here, displaying a hitherto invisible steely side of his otherwise low-profile personality.
The word “impotent” (“nampusak” in Marathi) has been an old favourite of his father, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, which he frequently used to describe rival politicians mainly from the Congress, and rival political parties usually the Congress, in most of his public speeches and annual Dussehra rallies.
The Shiv Sena executive president also took on his detractors and opponents for expressing doubts over his leadership capabilities, mainly on account of his quiet nature, and some others who accused him of not being sufficiently knowledgeable about burning issues confronting the state.
Reacting to these, Uddhav Thackeray said: “I may not know farming, but I know the feelings of the poor farmers and why they are being forced to commit suicide. I am also aware of the problems of malnutrition and other sufferings of the common masses.”
Thackeray’s elevation as the Shiv Sena’s executive president had led to an acrimonious parting of ways with his cousin Raj Thackeray, who till then had been considered Bal Thackeray’s heir apparent.
Raj Thackeray subsequently walked out of the party to float his rival Maharashtra Navnirman Samiti (MNS) that has been conducting a violent campaign against non-Maharashtrians in the state and for replacing signboards in English and other languages with those in Marathi.