Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday claimed a “Godhra-like” incident may take place during the “return journey” of the large number of people expected to converge at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh from across the nation for the inauguration of the Ram Temple.

On February 27, 2022, ‘Karsevaks'(Sangh Parivar term for volunteers who took part in the Ram temple movement) returning from Ayodhya on board the Sabarmati Express was attacked and their train coach was set ablaze at Godhra station in Gujarat, leading to several deaths and subsequently triggering widespread riots throughout the state.

“It is a possibility that the government could invite a large number of people for the Ram Temple inauguration in buses and trucks, and on their return journey, an incident similar to that in Godhra may occur,” Thackeray stated in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon, PTI reported.

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The Ram Temple is likely to be inaugurated in January 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Thackeray also took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), accusing them of not having icons whom people could look up to and instead appropriating legends like Sardar Patel and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, PTI reported.

“They (BJP-RSS) were now trying to lay claim to his father Bal Thackeray’s legacy,” he said.

The BJP and RSS have no achievements of their own and it is not the size of the statue of Sardar Patel (the Statue of Unity in Gujarat’s Kevadia, which at 182 metres is the highest such structure in the world) that matters but his achievements, Thackeray added.

Also read: Ram temple construction moving at brisk pace, trust targets early 2024 opening

“These persons (from the BJP and RSS) are not even close to achieving the greatness of Sardar Patel,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.

The BJP has frequently attacked Thackrey for allegedly departing from the principles of Bal Thackeray in order to become chief minister by forming an alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) following the 2019 Assembly elections.

After the Shiv Sena split in June 2022, the attacks intensified as both parties claimed themselves as the true inheritors of the founder’s legacy.

The BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena have claimed themselves as true adherents of Bal Thackeray’s Hindutva.

(With inputs from PTI)