A day after Raj Thackeray called for a “Modi-mukt Bharat” by 2019, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) cadres on Monday pulled down Gujarati signboards at some commercial establishments in Thane district.
The cadres of the Raj Thackeray-led party MNS smashed and pulled down over 20 signboards on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in the district’s Vasai area late last night, MNS Thane region president Avinash Jadhav said on Monday.
“Vasai and Thane district are in Maharashtra and not Gujarat, and we will not tolerate name boards in Gujarati anymore,” said Jadhav, while asserting that their agitation against such signboards would continue.
While confirming the incident, the Vasai police said that no offence had been registered so far.
‘Modi-mukt Bharat’
Addressing party workers at a rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on Sunday, Thackeray said, “The country is fed up with the false promises made by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and his government.”
“All opposition parties should come together to get rid of the BJP-led NDA government to ensure a “Modi-mukt Bharat,” he said, while reminding the audience of the BJP’s “Congress-mukt Bharat” slogan.
“India got its first independence in 1947, second in 1977 (after the post-Emergency election) and 2019 can bring a third independence if India becomes Modi-mukt,” the MNS chief said.
If the Modi government was ousted and an inquiry was ordered into demonetisation, it (the note ban) might turn out to be the biggest scam in the country since 1947, he said.
‘Linguistic politics’
In July last year, some workers of the MNS had protested against a jewellery shop in Dadar and a hotel in the Mahim area of Mumbai, asking them to remove the signboards in Gujarati, the police had then said.
Following the protests, the two establishments removed the Gujarati signboards, they said.
While the owners of the establishment did not lodge any complaint against the MNS cadres, seven of them were then arrested for “illegal gathering” in Mahim, the police had said.
(With agency inputs)