Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis did what even Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray “could not do,” Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said Saturday, sharing a stage with his estranged cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The Thackeray cousins came together at a “mega victory gathering” at the NSCI Dome campus in Worli to celebrate Maharashtra government’s rollback of two government resolutions (GRs) making Hindi the ‘default’ third language in government schools across the state.
Referring to their rare joint appearance, Uddhav said, rather than their speeches, their being “together is more important”.
“One thing is clear, we have removed the distance between us,” he said.
Raj last shared a stage with Uddhav in 2005. He then quit the Shiv Sena later that same year before floating the MNS in 2006.
Claiming the rollback of the three-language formula as a victory, Raj said, “They finally witnessed the power of Maharashtra and Marathi people and that’s what forced them to withdraw the GR on three language formula.”
Raj also remarked, “The irony is that Hindi-speaking states are economically backward and non-Hindi-speaking states are forward and these people want us to learn Hindi. Why? For what? I am not against Hindi but why impose it by attacking the regional language?”
English was the medium of instruction in the schools Bal Thackeray and his father attended, and the Shiv Sena founder even worked at an English newspaper but he still backed the Marathi cause, said Raj.
He, however, urged party workers not to resort to unnecessary violence.
While Raj did not give any indication of whether his party would join hands with Shiv Sena (UBT) for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, Uddhav hinted at a possible alliance with the MNS, saying, “We have come together to stay together.”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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