MUMBAI: The naming of the newly inaugurated Bandra-Worli Sealink bridge in Mumbai after former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the suggestion of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar drew fire from the uncle-nephew duo of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.

Thackeray in an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece “Saamna” published yesterday wrote that the Baramatikar, a reference to Pawar who hails from Baramati town in Pune, had drowned the Marathi pride in the Arabian Sea, by suggesting the name of Rajiv for the bridge.

“The names of the members of the Nehru-Gandhi families are mentioned in several projects in every state of the country, as if the land abstracts stand in their names in the country,” he wrote.

Taking pot shots at Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party president and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson, Thackeray said the Indian people were rightly and definitely asking now whether India was the personal fiefdom of the Nehru-Gandhi families.

Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Thackeray said there was some kind of storm when Singh said that the Muslims had equal rights over property in the country. But then, who thinks of such a storm?

“We feel that Singh should make some amends in his green slogans. As Singh states that the Muslims have the first rights over property in the country, it is because there is no one here to care about the Hindus. But in reality if it is the question of who has the first right over property in the country it would that of the Nehru-Gandhi families and then that of the Muslims,” Thackeray wrote sarcastically.

“It is because of the Nehru-Gandhi families that Muslim terrorists penetrate our country. And till this dynasty is in power in Delhi, the Muslim terrorists will continue to have a free run in India.”

Taking Pawar to task, Thackeray wrote: “Sharad Pawar has publicly shown his helplessness, by suggesting that the new Bandra-Worli Sealink bridge be named after Rajiv, to which the state chief minister Ashok Chavan and others very promptly gave their approval. All this drama was enacted earlier. Pawar and Chavan exhibited their helplessness to make Sonia happy. And the people of Maharashtra are not stupid not to understand all this drama.”

Why did Pawar not suggest the name of several prominent leaders from Maharashtra including Hindu militant leader Veer Savarkar, social reformist Mahatma Phule or the Dalit leader Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Thackeray asked.

“Nearly 90 percent of the government and social institutions in Delhi are named after the members of the Nehru-Gandhi families, as if no other leaders were born except from these families. The same thing would happen in Maharashtra and don’t be surprised if the Congress-NCP government tomorrow renames the historic fort of Raigad built by Maratha warrior Shivaji after some member of the Nehru-Gandhi families. It’s a warning to the people of Maharashtra to be alert and wake up from their deep slumber, before it is too late,” Thackeray concluded.

Meanwhile, it was also the turn of Thackeray’s nephew Raj to fire his cannon at Pawar over the naming of bridge after Rajiv. Speaking at a function on Thursday in Mumbai suburb Kurla, Raj said: “It’s surprising that Pawar did not remember the name of any Maharashtrian leader than to suggest the name of Rajiv. The MNS demanded that the bridge be named after any leader who had participated in the joint struggle for unified Maharashtra.

Raj alleged that Pawar had suggested the name of Rajiv out of gratitude as he (Pawar) was expelled from Congress during former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi time and it was Rajiv who brought Pawar back into the Congress fold in 1986.

Criticizing the imposing of toll tax Raj said: “People are living below poverty condition and have no money to move from one place to another in Mumbai, so who will have the capacity to shell between Rupees 50 or 100 to travel on the Bandra-Kurla Sealink bridge,” Raj questioned, claiming that instead of reducing traffic congestion the bridge will experience more traffic jams at the toll point.