Bal Thackeray created 'fear of Hindus' in national interest: Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena on Tuesday defended its founder Bal Thackeray's ideology saying he created 'a fear of Hindus' solely in 'national interest' and hit out at a weekly magazine for its article against the late party supremo.

"People have lot of love and respect for Balasaheb Thackeray and feel proud of his nationalist ideals. He surely instilled the fear of Hindus among people," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' in Mumbai said, rubbishing the contents of an article published in the magazine, Sena workers had on Monday staged protest at Nariman Point area in South Mumbai against the magazine, tearing and torching its copies. A case was also filed in adjoining Thane district in connection with the article.

The outfit today said, "Hindus should be able to live in this country with pride and his (a Hindu's) voice should roar like that of a lion. If an answer has to be given to Pakistan extremists, Hindus will also to become highly religious. To answer Pakistan, Hindus need to become human bombs and invade their country," it said in controversial remarks.

Defending the thoughts and ideology of Thackeray, the Sena said, "If his stand that Pakistani extremists should be responded in their own terms can be called as terrorism, then this kind of terrorism was in the national interest."

Thackeray considered all religions equal and so, after the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984, he appealed for calm in the state, the party said. "It was because of him that the Sikh community could live in peace in Mumbai and other parts of the state," it said.

"Today, even if we don't want a magazine to gain unnecessary publicity by publishing false information on Balasaheb, but if people's anger rises then the already dead magazine will be further crushed by them in the market," the Sena said.