Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday took a swipe at Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray over the remarks of state minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil who claimed that not a single Shiv Sena worker was present near the Babri masjid when it was brought down in 1992.

Talking to reporters in Ahmednagar, Shinde said Patil meant to know the whereabouts of the former chief minister (read Uddhav Thackeray) when the demolition of the structure was carried out. “I spoke to Chandrakant Patil. He meant to ask where were the former CM (Uddhav Thackeray) and the one who is speaking now (a reference to Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut who belongs to Shiv Sena-UBT faction) when the masjid was being razed,” Shinde said.

He said it was the late Sena founder Bal Thackeray who had given a call of “Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain” (Say with pride that we are Hindus).

“In the Babri case, Balasaheb had gone to the Lucknow court. At that time Lal Krishna Advani, Ashok Singhal, and Uma Bharti were also there. There was no party there (at the site in Ayodhya where the structure once stood), all were devotees of Lord Ram,” Shinde added.

Earlier in the day, Uddhav Thackeray said Shinde should either step down as chief minister or seek Patil’s resignation over his Babri demolition remarks.

The former CM also said his party’s Hindutva is “nationalism” and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should explain what is its Hindutva.

Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party, and Congress are constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)