Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], July 19 (ANI): As Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray challenged BJP MP Nishikant Dubey to visit Mumbai warning he would be drowned and beaten in the sea amid the ongoing language row, BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar on Saturday said that people of the country respect the Constitution and police will be there to prevent any such attempts.
“Koi kisi ko samundar mein duba ke maar nahi sakta (No one can drown and beat someone in the sea). In this country, we respect the Constitution. To safeguard the Constitution, there is no dearth of people like Tukaram Omble. If someone goes to drown someone, there would be several police personnel who would stop you,” Mungantiwar told ANI.
Thackeray and Nishikant Dubey are engaged in a war of words over the language row in Maharashtra.
Thackeray on Friday hit back at Nishikant Dubey’s controversial “patak-patak ke maarenge” remarks and said, “A BJP MP said, ‘Marathi logon ko hum yahan pe patak patak ke maarenge’… You come to Mumbai. Mumbai ke samundar mein dubo dubo ke maarenge.”
Reacting to Dubey’s remarks, the MNS chief asserted that he will not compromise on matters related to the Marathi language and the people of Maharashtra. He further said that those who live in Maharashtra should “learn Marathi as soon as possible.”
“I will not make any compromises over Marathi and the people of Maharashtra. Those who live in Maharashtra, to them I would like to say, ‘learn Marathi as soon as possible, wherever you go, speak Marathi’. In Karnataka, they fight for their language. Even a rickshaw puller knows that the government is standing behind him over language. Similarly, you be like a pillar and speak in Marathi only. This is what I have come to request all of you,” Thackeray said while addressing a gathering in Mumbai.
This came after Dubey on Friday lambasted incidents of violence against Hindi speakers in Maharashtra after the Maharashtra government’s move on the three-language policy, which was later withdrawn.
When asked about his controversial “patak, patak ke maarenge” remarks, he said, “I am proud that my mother tongue is Hindi. Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray are not big laat sahab. I am an MP, do not take the law into my hands. Whenever they go out, whichever state they go to, people of that place will beat them.”
The Maharashtra Government had revoked the government resolutions (GRs) on the three-language policy, introducing Hindi as the third language in primary schools. The government has decided to set up a committee to take a relook into the three-language policy.
Fadnavis announced that the government resolutions (GRs) issued in April regarding the three-language policy in primary schools have been cancelled. The first GR had made Hindi a compulsory third language for students from Classes 1 to 5, and the second GR made it optional.
Uddhav and Raj Thackeray had held a joint ‘victory rally’ to celebrate the state government withdrawing its move.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut later clarified that their party is not against the Hindi language, but opposes making it mandatory in primary schooling.
Raut, in his Saamana article on July 13, stated that the Thackeray brothers, who joined hands on the Marathi issue, must also come together politically to fight the “commercial Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”.
He asserted that the alliance between Uddhav and Raj Thackeray was “necessary” for Maharashtra to get a new direction.
“The current rulers of Delhi and Maharashtra are shaken by the way the storm of Marathi unity has been created in Maharashtra. They will try to prevent this alliance from happening,” the article read. (ANI)
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed of ANI; only the image & headline may have been reworked by News Services Division of World News Network Inc Ltd and Palghar News and Pune News and World News
HINDI, MARATHI, GUJARATI, TAMIL, TELUGU, BENGALI, KANNADA, ORIYA, PUNJABI, URDU, MALAYALAM
For more details and packages
