Dubey Dares Raj Thackeray to Visit Hindi Belt and get Thrashed, Shiv Sena (UBT) Reacts Strongly
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 7: Amidst the language row in Maharashtra on which the Thackeray cousins have come together on one platform opposing alleged “imposition of Hindi” by the state government which was rolled back within days, the BJP MP from Jharkhand Nishikant Dubey on Monday dared Raj Thackeray to visit the Hindi belt and get thrashed as his supporters were doing for speaking Hindi in Maharashtra.
Mr Dubey’s remarks came days after Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers assaulted several businessmen and bankers for speaking Hindi and not Marathi in Mumbai and some other parts of Maharashtra.
“You people are surviving on our money. What kind of industries do you have? If you are courageous enough and beat those who speak Hindi, then you should beat all those who speak Urdu, Tamil, and Telugu. If you are such a big ‘boss’, come out of Maharashtra, come to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu – ‘tumko patak ke maarenge’… We all respect Marathi and the people of Maharashtra, who fought for India’s independence,” Dubey said.
The BJP member accused Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray of doing “cheap politics” over Marathi ahead of the BMC election. “If they have courage – they should go to Mahim and beat any Hindi or Urdu speaking people in front of Mahim dargah,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi hit out at Dubey and asked who made him the decision maker of what other party leaders should be doing. She also asked if Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis agreed with their party MP’s language with regard to the people of Maharashtra and his disparaging comments about hard-working people of the state.
“Who made him the gatekeeper of Hindi? Who made him the tax keeper of India? Who made him the spokesperson of industrialists? Who made him the decision maker of what other party leaders should be doing?” she asked in a post on X.
Taking cognisance of incidents of violence over Marathi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday had said while there was nothing wrong in expecting people to speak Marathi in the state, it was unacceptable to resort to violence for its insistence and that one cannot be “obstinate” about it. He also warned of legal action against those taking the law into their hands over the issue.
For the first time in two decades, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray held a joint rally on July 5 to mark their “success” in getting the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation to withdraw two government resolutions (GRs) on the three-language policy under NEP 2020 and compulsorily teaching Hindi from Class 1 in English and Marathi medium schools.
At the event, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, respectively, had vowed to oppose all attempts by the government to “impose” Hindi and “sideline” Marathi in the state.
In the backdrop of Saturday’s joint rally, an old video of the late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray saying “I may be Marathi in Maharashtra but I am Hindu in Bharat” has resurfaced online. In the video Bal Thackeray, with a saffron shawl draped over his shoulders, identifies himself as a ‘Marathi’ and a ‘Hindu’, and adds, “We must embrace Hindutva over linguistic identities.”
The clip was posted on X Saturday night, hours after Uddhav and Raj came together for a ‘victory rally’ in Mumbai. The cousins were ‘celebrating’ forcing the state to roll back orders making Hindi the default language for primary school students.
Uddhav Thackeray – who faces an ongoing battle to be viewed as the successor to his father’s political ideology, particularly against the Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde that broke away and joined the BJP – also said Raj and he would contest the Mumbai civic body election together. He also said his cousin and he would not let the BJP ‘impose Hindi on the people’, and called for unity between all of the Marathi population.
All of this also led to violence in the name of Marathi; members of Raj Thackeray’s MNS attacked a Mumbai shopkeeper and a man in Pune, while a video from inside the office an Uddhav Thackeray party MP showed staff of a mobile phone store being slapped. The attacks were triggered by the victims not speaking Marathi and criticising Raj Thackeray, and generated outrage, particularly since the MNS goons responsible haven’t been arrested yet.
The Maharashtra government continue to walk a tightrope between following through on the centre’s push to make Hindi the default language nationwide, particularly in the south, and alienating pro-Marathi voters – who have considerable voting clout – during an election year. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has called for strict action against goons from Raj Thackeray’s party, but also declared the Marathi language should be ‘respected’ in the state.
In the language battle in Maharashtra, the Congress being a national party finds itself in a queer situation unable to oppose Hindi nor can it ignore Marathi. The party was curiously absent at the reunion event of the estranged Thackeray cousins on Saturday despite being invited. The lone national ally of the Uddhav Sena, the Congress seems to be edgy over the development, keeping a close watch.
There are various reasons for the Congress’s decision to avoid rubbing shoulders with Thackerays for now, ranging from the Bihar Assembly polls due in a few months to the upcoming Maharashtra civic body polls including the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, to the hardline Hindutva positions often taken by Raj while looking to stay relevant in state politics.
The Maharashtra Congress leaders believe that the Thackeray cousins’ reunion — spurred by the “Marathi first” and “anti-Hindi imposition” stir — would have a limited impact, confined largely to Mumbai and the BMC elections. The Congress did not want to be seen sharing their space against such a backdrop, but it also cannot afford to rub Uddhav the wrong way.
“It was a half-hearted invitation, our leaders were invited. The NCP went to the event but they were insulted, their leaders were not even called on the dais. Thackerays wanted to take all the credit for the Marathi agitation,” a senior Congress leader said, “It is a good thing that we did not go because the Congress was not part of the anti-Hindi agitation. Despite odd statements, our leaders did not take up the issue very seriously because they were not clear about Delhi’s (party leadership)’s direction.”
Given that the Congress is a pan-Indian party and is trying hard for its revival in the Hindi heartland, including poll-bound Bihar, the party could not have taken up a belligerent anti-Hindi stand anyway. “Thackerays are eyeing only the BMC elections. And we want to go alone in the BMC polls. We have never allied with anyone for the BMC elections,” said a party leader.
“Thackerays have only orchestrated this to retain power in BMC. The feeling among our MLAs is that we should go alone (in the BMC polls). We cannot cede whatever space we have now. When we ally (with the Uddhav Sena), the minority vote bank shifts to the Sena to defeat the BJP candidates but the Sena vote doesn’t come to us,” another Congress leader said.
“It is a tricky situation. As it is the Congress does not have much support base in Mumbai. We are neither with the Marathi manoos (sons of the soil) nor Gujaratis. Our support base is only the minorities, that goes in some places where the SP and the AIMIM field candidates. We have a little bit of support base among north Indians, which will also go if we are seen with Raj. There is not much vote base left for Congress. We are completely confused,” a party leader said.
A large Congress section appears to be unhappy with the state of affairs in the party. “Nobody is taking any initiative here because for the smallest event you have to take permission from Delhi. The Maharashtra party leadership was not sure whether we should take an anti-Hindi stance or not. So they sort of fell in between. The issue was not Marathi but it was about imposition of Hindi. If Hindi was imposed from Class 1 then Marathi would suffer. That is the logic,” the leader said.
“We also spoke (over the Hindi imposition row), but the MNS and Sena (UBT) took an aggressive position, beating up people and all. They made it very visible because media only loves such stories. The Congress was aloof. One of the problems with the Congress is that Delhi is directing them to hold Jai Hind yatra, Samvidhan Samman sammelan etc, which are all abstract themes where only die-hard Congress people join. There is no active public participation as no person who is not a party member is enthused by these slogans. We should be taking up people’s causes like farm prices, law and order, corruption or even the Marathi language for that matter — we should have been on the streets not necessarily under the leadership of Thackerays,” a party insider said.
The Bihar election has deepened the Congress’s dilemma as it could not appear to be associated with Raj who is known for his strident anti-north Indians and anti-Hindi posturing. “We needed a clear and precise direction on Hindi. We could not join the agitation openly because it sends an anti-Hindi message. It is like that secularism debate, we talk too much of secularism, we are seen as pro-Muslim. So how to subtly convey the message — in that there was no direction from the high command,” a state Congress leader said.
