MNS chief Raj Thackeray, speaking at a joint rally with cousin Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, credited Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for pulling off a feat that "even Balasaheb Thackeray couldn't do".
"Uddhav and I are coming together after 20 years… What Balasaheb Thackeray could not do, thousands others couldn't do, Devendra Fadnavis managed to do that," Raj Thackeray said in his speech in Marathi at the massive event in Worli as the two cousins buried decades old hatchet.
The cousins broke up when Bal Thackeray was alive, after he preferred his son Uddhav over Raj for Shiv Sena succession.
The reunion comes on the stated agenda of “Marathi pride” – a plank that Bal Thackeray deployed to build his base. It also comes in the backdrop of charged statements and some hooliganism over alleged imposition of Hindi in the state.
“Why is Hindi being forced on children?” Raj said, referring to the BJP-led government's later-withdrawn decision to introduce Hindi as a third language in schools.
Uddhav in his speech after Raj said, “When it comes to the question of language, Raj, I and everyone else here is united.”
On the third-language row, the MNS chief claimed, “They just tested waters. Had this decision on Hindi been accepted quietly, the next step would have been an attempt to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra.”
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