Raj Thackeray debuts on Facebook, claims Dawood Ibrahim negotiating terms with Modi govt over return to India

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Thursday opted for his usual sensationalism on his Facebook debut unleashing a full throttled attack on the Narendra Modi govrenment by saying that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was currently negotiating a settlement with the BJP-led NDA to return to India. In his Facebook live, Thackeray said that Dawood is now very sick and crippled and that he wishes to return to India to breathe his last in his motherland. “He is currently engaged in a ‘setting’ with the government for this and this could happen,” Thackeray said at a huge gathering to launch his official Facebook page in Mumbai. However, he alleged that the ruling BJP will exploit it politically if it managed to bring the absconding don to India. Dawood had recently come under the scanner after Thane Police arrested his brother Iqbal Kaskar for allegedly operating an extortion racket under his name in Maharashtra.

“It is he (Dawood) who is keen to return… But, the BJP will claim credit for this to win the next elections,” Thackeray said. Lashing out at Modi, Thackeray said that he had initially thought the country will progress under the current prime minister. “Now three-and-half years have passed. But the events don’t seem to stop. Fake praise bears no meaning. This country showered support. How many speeches do we hear? This country has only heard speeches for 70 years,” he said.

Thackeray alleged that Modi made occasional promises hoping that the people would forget. “Nobody talks about demonetisation. If 99 percent money came back, where is it? The ones who owned black money people are still safe,” he said.

The MNS president said that BJP was earlier against demonetisation when it was in the Opposition. “When (Palaniappan) Chidambaram was planning to replace Rs 500 notes during the Congress rule, the same BJP opposed it saying that 65 percent people don’t own bank accounts. Now when BJP introduced demonetisation, did they forget those 65 percent people?” Thackeray asked. Taking a dig at Modi’s initiatives on yoga and Swacchh Bharat, the MNS chief said that the prime minister implemented whatever came to his mind. “What has changed from Congress rule to BJP’s? In three-and-half year, beside notes’ colour, what else has changed?,” he asked. [caption id=“attachment_4066431” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  MNS chief Raj Thackeray at the launch of his Facebook Page in Mumbai. Screengrab from Facebook/@RajThackeray[/caption] Thackeray criticised the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, the foundation stone of which was laid last week by Modi and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. “For whom are you making a Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train. Apart from you, no one else is going to use that. For Gujaratis in Mumbai and Gujarat, you are taking  loan of Rs 1.08 lakh crore. Don’t we understand your tactics? This is an old dream of joining Mumbai and Gujarat,” he said. “You will not realise this now. Same happened when the metros were to come. The real estate prices will soon shoot up and the Marathi manoos won’t be able to afford the flats. I’ve been telling this for a very long time,” Thackeray said. Explaining the need for launching the Facebook page, the MNS chief said that it was his wish to directly interact with his followers that made him take up the venture. With inputs from IANS