Mumbai, April 28: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today said a lot of parties, especially his nephew Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), have copied his agenda since he founded the outfit in 1966.
”A lot of duplicates have come up…may be with my blessings.
They copy whatever I say. That is their agenda. They look like carbon copy of Shiv Sena before people,” Mr Thackeray said, without naming MNS or Raj Thackeray, in an interview published in party mouthpiece Saamana.
Talking ahead of celebration of 50 years of Maharashtra on May 1, he said he was indignant about the whole state of affairs in the state. People were talking about bifurcating the state with independent Vidarbha, and carving Mumbai out of the state.
He said the struggle for ‘samyukta’ (united) Maharashtra was a painful period in the history of the state. People had shed their blood for making Mumbai a part of the state. He warned people against demanding separate Mumbai.
Mumbai belongs to Marathi people and would continue to remain a part of Maharashtra, the Sena chief asserted.
”I had said in my speech at the first public meeting of the party on October 22, 1966, that there should be a permit system to stop the hordes of migrants to Mumbai,” he said while talking about curbing the influx of present-day migrants, particularly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
He said Marathi people should not refer to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus as CST.
”Call the station by its full name,” he said.
Mr Thackeray blamed the then Chief Minister Morarji Desai for ordering firing on agitators, demanding a ‘samyukta’ Maharashtra.
It was Gandhiji’s fortune that he did not meet Desai, or else he would have committed suicide before Godse killed him, he said.
He also criticised the Nehrus for their twisted idea of Maharashtra.
–Agencies