Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray launched a veiled attack on Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said that the Chief Minister did what could not be possible for Balasaheb Thackeray, as he brought the two estranged brothers of the Thackeray family together.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray shared a hug at the Worli Dome in Mumbai as they held a joint rally after the Maharashtra Government scrapped two Government Resolutions (GRs) to introduce Hindi as the third language.
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Thackeray brothers garlanded the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the joint rally of their parties, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) at Worli Dome in Mumbai.
Addressing the gathering, Raj Thackeray said, “I had said in one of my interviews that my Maharashtra is bigger than any politics and fight. Today, after 20 years, Uddhav and I have come together. What Balasaheb could not do, Devendra Fadnavis did it… The work of bringing both of us together.”
“Minister Dada Bhuse came to me and requested me to listen to his point. I asked him what the third language would be for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan. All the Hindi-speaking states are behind us, and we are ahead of all Hindi-speaking states; still, we are being forced to learn Hindi. Why?. I don’t have anything against Hindi; no language is bad. It takes a lot of effort to build a language. We Marathi people ruled over a lot of states during the Maratha Empire, but we never enforced Marathi on those parts. They started with the experiment of imposing Hindi over us and were trying to test if we would not have opposed it, they would have gone up to making Mumbai separate from Maharashtra,” he added.
He further asked if anyone would raise a question about his pride in Marathi. He further said, “They say that our children have learnt in English medium schools. So what? Dada Bhuse studied in Marathi schools and became a minister. Devendra Fadnavis studied in an English-medium school and became the Maharashtra CM. So what? I would tell you that I studied in a Marathi school, but my father, Shrikant Thackeray, and uncle, Balasaheb Thackeray, studied in an English medium school. Can anyone raise a question about their love for Marathi? Tomorrow, I will learn Hebrew also. Will anyone raise a question about my pride in Marathi?”
“Be it Gujarati or anyone else here, must know Marathi, but there is no need to beat people for that if they don’t speak Marathi. But if someone shows useless drama, you must hit below their eardrums. I tell you one more thing: if you beat someone, don’t make a video of the incident. Let the person beaten up tell that he has been beaten up, you don’t need to tell everyone that you have beaten someone,” he added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray said they “have come together and will stay together”.
Addressing a victory gathering, titled ‘Awaj Marathicha’, after the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led government revoked the order introducing Hindi as a third language from class 1 in state schools, he said they “won’t let the government impose Hindi on them”.
“One thing is clear, we have removed the distance between us,” he said about the reunion with Raj Thackeray, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) boss.
The two cousins last shared the stage during an election campaign in 2005. Raj Thackeray then quit the Shiv Sena in the same year and founded the MNS in 2006.
He said everyone was “eagerly waiting” for their speeches since they announced the event. “But in my view, we are both coming together, and this stage was more important than our speeches. Raj has already given a very outstanding speech, and I think there is no need for me to speak now,” he said.
Referring to Fadnavis’s statement on the assault of a shopkeeper by MNS workers that “hooliganism” in the name of Marathi would not be tolerated, Uddhav Thackeray said they would keep doing “hooliganism” if they don’t get justice.
Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that the two prominent leaders of the Thackeray family will give direction to the Marathi Manus.
While speaking to reporters, Sanjay Raut said, “It is like a festival for all of us in Maharashtra that two prominent leaders of the Thackeray family, who separated due to their political ideologies, are finally coming together to share a stage after 20 years. This has been our wish throughout that we should fight those who are against the people of Maharashtra. By coming together today, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray will give direction to the Marathi Manush.”
