Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 6 (ANI): Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Friday took a sharp swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its 'Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy' campaign, accusing the ruling party of 'undermining democratic principles' while staging protests in their defence.

In a post on X, Thackeray described the BJP as a 'peculiar party', questioning how a party in power from the grassroots to the top could organise protests demanding that democracy be saved.

'This is perhaps the only instance in the world where a ruling party stages a protest against the opposition,' he said.

Citing the Gokul cooperative dairy elections in Maharashtra, the MNS chief questioned the appointment of five government-nominated directors after the BJP-backed panel secured 12 seats against the 13 won by Satej Patil's panel. He also questioned the decision to grant voting rights to the nominated directors.

'The elected members had won through a democratic process, via a secret ballot,' Thackeray said, alleging that the BJP had abandoned its principles after failing to capture power at Gokul.

Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took a dig at the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, over his remarks about the election to the board of directors of the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union, popularly known as Gokul Dairy, saying that the matter involved only 4,500 voters and questioning why the Congress leader was raising it from Delhi.

The story began on October 19, when elections were held for the 25 director posts of the Gokul Milk Union, drawing an astonishing voter turnout of nearly 99.74% to 99.96%. When the votes were counted, the Congress-backed Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samavichari Aghadi, led by Congress MLC Satej Patil, emerged victorious by securing 13 seats to claim a simple majority. The rival panel backed by the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti coalition secured the remaining 12 seats.

Taking a further dig at the party, he said, 'It is truly astonishing that Maharashtra is currently facing a severe drought of water, while the Bharatiya Janata Party is simultaneously suffering from a severe drought of common sense!'

Thackeray also accused the BJP of staging protests over issues such as democracy, terrorism and the economy despite being in power.

https://x.com/rajthackeray/status/2118554466299547898

'While in power, they will stage protests to 'save democracy' even as they themselves strangle it. When extremist attacks occur, or law and order deteriorate under their watch, they will organise protests to 'save the nation from terrorism.' And now, as the country's economy sinks into the abyss, they will likely organise protests to 'save the economy',' he said.

The MNS chief further asked the BJP to stop what he termed 'petty, sore-loser games', saying the party must learn to accept the growing support for the Opposition after ruling the country for 12 years.

'Now that the people of this country are beginning to lean toward the opposition, the BJP, too, must learn to endure it!' he added.

His remarks come amid an intensifying political confrontation between the BJP and Opposition parties over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The political confrontation over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls intensified on Thursday, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah accepting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's challenge for a debate while daring him to discuss the issue in Parliament, even as BJP leaders took to the streets in multiple states to defend the exercise and Opposition parties stepped up their protests.

The latest round of the BJP-opposition face-off saw Shah address a rally in Karnal as part of the party's 'Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy' campaign, while former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and other INDIA bloc leaders participated in a protest at Bengaluru's Freedom Park, demanding that SIR be scrapped and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar resign.

Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) announced a protest against SIR in Kochi on November 7, marking its first major demonstration since its leaders were detained in Delhi during an attempted protest at Jantar Mantar last month. (ANI)