Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday asked whether the BJP was “out to end the country’s federal structure”. He said the country was headed towards slavery and dictatorship in the 75th year of independence that was achieved after the 150-year British rule.

He was speaking at the 62nd anniversary of the party’s weekly, Marmik, which publishes social and political cartoons. The weekly was started by the late Balasaheb Thackeray, an acclaimed cartoonist in his own right.