On Saturday, Raj and Uddhav Thackeray, for the first time in 20 years, shared a dais. During their address, they defended the ‘slapgate’ episode by party workers against those unable to speak the local language. However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP Mumbai president, Ashish Shelar, have maintained that the government will not tolerate any such act of hooliganism by any party, targeting non-Marathi speakers.
On Sunday, Shelar made a statement comparing the Pahalgam terror attack and the Mira Road incident, wherein Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers slapped a non-Marathi person for not respecting the local language and region. “In the Pahalgam terror attack, people were asked their religion before being shot. Here, people are being attacked based on their language,” Shelar said in a clear indication that the BJP would focus on national pride to counter the ongoing linguistic row, which may peak ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections in Mumbai.
BJP Mumbai president Ashish Shelar. FILE PIC
However, aware that it cannot allow ignorance of growing dissent among Marathi voters about losing grip over its own land, Shelar was quick to find a balance over the situation. Warning those who call themselves champions of Marathi, the BJP Mumbai president said, “BJP has been taking care of Marathi people and will continue to do so. But, while upholding the pride of Marathi people, we will also protect non-Marathi speaking people.”
Earlier, Fadnavis, while taking a dig at the Thackeray cousins over linguistic politics, had said, “They [Raj and Uddhav] should not think all Marathi speakers are with them. We too are Marathi speakers, and people from the community have been supporting the party and voting in large numbers to ensure the BJP’s victory.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) camp leader Sushma Andhare and MNS leader Avinash Jadhav slammed Shelar for comparing the Mira Road incident with the terror attack. “Does the BJP want to say that Marathi people are terrorists?” Andhare questioned.
Over the past decade, representation by non-Marathi corporators has been witnessing a rise in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), setting the stage for the upcoming civic polls — a battle between regional identity and nationalist pride.
If one goes through the civic poll results of 2012 and 2017, they show that of the 227 corporators elected in 2017, 72 were non-Marathi, up from 61 in 2012. The BJP emerged as the party sending the highest number of non-Marathi corporators to the civic body in 2017. Of the total 82 seats the BJP won, it had sent 36 non-Marathi corporators to the power corridors of the BMC.
No wonder, when the Thackeray cousins are hinting at a reunion and possible political shift on the grounds of Marathi unity — which could be major issue ahead of the civic polls scheduled at the end of calendar year 2025 — the BJP is trying to bring in national pride as the strategy to counter the Thackeray cousins’ Marathi pride move.
