Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday, 20 October delivered a combative address at the party's annual Dussehra rally at the historic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park in Mumbai, openly calling for a change of government in Maharashtra and targeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on agrarian distress, law and order, and electoral roll deletions.

The Regime-Change Declaration

Thackeray made his intent unambiguous from the outset. 'We are here to change the regime,' he told the large gathering of party workers, adding that a government must be replaced when it ceases to serve the public interest. He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government of systematically curbing democratic fundamentals, alleging that citizens' basic rights — including the right to vote and to protest peacefully — were being eroded.

He criticised authorities over the treatment of demonstrators, alleging that youth and women had faced high-handed policing. Opening on a characteristic note, Thackeray urged cadres to stand fearless: 'Do not live life like chickens penned in a coop. Live even if it is for a single day, but live like tigers.' He also declared that neither their identity nor their sacred saffron flag — the Bhagwa — could ever be taken from them.

Agrarian Crisis and Hollow Relief Claims

Thackeray launched a sustained attack on the state government's handling of the agrarian crisis, pointing to the damage wrought by wet droughts and heavy unseasonal rains. He claimed that despite Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's announcements of large relief packages, farmers had received little to no actual aid. Installments under the Namo Kisan Yojana, he alleged, had failed to reach beneficiaries — mocking that the government had merely 'flung five thousand rupees in the faces of farmers.'

He recounted an incident in which a youth allegedly died by suicide because his family could not afford money for a school excursion, using the case to argue that the Maharashtra government was built entirely on hollow announcements and unfulfilled loan-waiver promises.

The Lawrence Bishnoi Challenge

Addressing the law and order situation — including a recent firing incident involving actor Tiger Shroff — Thackeray directed a sharp challenge at the Chief Minister. Referring to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in a Gujarat prison, Thackeray said sarcastically that Bishnoi was 'sitting comfortably in Sabarmati jail eating fafda and dhokla.' He then issued an open dare: 'If Fadnavis has the courage, he should bring him here from Sabarmati jail.' The remark was widely seen as an indictment of the Centre's handling of organised crime networks operating across state lines.

Electoral Roll Deletions and ECI Accountability

Thackeray trained his fire on the Election Commission of India (ECI) over what he described as the deletion of 13 crore voters from electoral rolls nationwide — a figure he noted was roughly equivalent to Maharashtra's entire population. He alleged massive irregularities in the process and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He also urged the Union government not to ignore the concerns of Generation Z and the issues they raise.

A Milestone Rally With Historical Significance

This year's Dussehra rally carried layered symbolism: it coincides with the birth centenary year of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray, the diamond jubilee — the 60th edition — of the party's Dussehra rally tradition, and the centenary of Shivaji Park's naming. The confluence of anniversaries lent the gathering an unusually charged atmosphere, with Thackeray framing his opposition politics as a continuation of the movement his father built. With Maharashtra's political landscape still fractured after the 2022 split in Shiv Sena, Uddhav's rally served as a reminder that the UBT faction retains significant street-level mobilisation capacity ahead of any future electoral contest.