Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 7 : Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray clarified that his party is not against the Hindi language but accused certain groups of comparing Marathi people to terrorists and undermining Marathi identity.
He criticized them for failing to protect Hindus and siding with those who harm Marathi interests.
"We are not against the Hindi language... They are comparing Marathi people to the terrorists of Pahalgam, they are the real Marathi killers... They cannot save Hindus either, they are siding with those who do injustice to Marathi... The original BJP, which had an alliance with Shiv Sena, has been killed... We have come together, and these people have been fuming ever since," he said.
Amid the political sparring over Hindi imposition charge by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Maharashtra Minister Ashish Shelar on Sunday compared the agony of the Pahalgam terror attack, where Hindus were killed in the name of religion, and those getting "beaten up" in the name of language.
He said that these incidents were distressing for him.
"All these incidents cause pain, suffering, and mental distress. In Pahalgam, they shot them after asking about their religion. And here, they beat up the innocent Hindus just because of the language they speak. Such cases create a disturbance," Shelar said.
His remarks come after some incidents of violence and vandalism were reported in the state amid the ongoing Hindi-Marathi controversy.
Five workers of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were arrested in connection with the vandalism at entrepreneur Sushil Kedia's office in Worli, police said on Saturday. A case has been registered against them under Sections 223, 189(2), 189(3), 190, 191(2), 191(3), and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
On Sunday, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for comparing the Pahalgam terror attack to incidents of violence in Maharashtra amid the ongoing language controversy, and said that the ruling party holds "a lot of poison" in its mind towards the state.
He further questioned the ruling BJP in the centre over the delay in arresting the terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack.
"There is a lot of poison in the BJP's mind when it comes to Maharashtra. Today, the BJP has compared Maharashtra to the terrorists in the Pahalgam incident - the terrorists whom the BJP could not catch or stop. It has been three months since the Pahalgam incident, but where did those terrorists go? Nobody knows if they fled to Pakistan or joined the BJP. But comparing them to Maharashtra shows the malice and poison that the BJP has for the state," Thackeray told reporters here.