The latest exchange of barbs between BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray reached a new level on Saturday, with Dubey lashing out at Thackeray's latest taunt, asserting, "I have taught Hindi to Raj Thackeray."
The two leaders are at odds over the age-old controversy surrounding the use of Hindi in Maharashtra. The controversy erupted again recently when Raj Thackeray exhorted the workers of MNS to attack people who do not speak Marathi.
Dubey reacted by tweeting a subtle threat: "Tumko patak patak ke maarenge" (You will be beaten badly, again and again).
Raj Thackeray, in a vitriolic rebuttal on Friday, went straight at Dubey. He accused the BJP MP of issuing provocative statements about Marathi people.
"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" (We will thrash them by drowning them repeatedly in the Mumbai sea), Thackeray averred.
Unfazed, Dubey retaliated the following day, claiming that his Hindi outbursts have successfully given the lesson to the MNS leader.
"I have taught Hindi to Raj Thackeray," he claimed, going on the attack against the MNS chief.
The political battle is at a time when Maharashtra is seeing an uptick in controversies related to the language. Raj Thackeray, who has been known for his blunt championsing of the Marathi manoos, recently shared the dais with his cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, a development that people understand as an indication of changing political trends in the state.
Simultaneously, tensions have spilled onto the streets. In two recent cases, MNS workers were allegedly caught on camera beating up people — a shopkeeper and a food vendor — allegedly for not uttering words in Marathi. The incidents took place in Mumbai and Thane, and they drew widespread condemnation.
The backdrop of this intensifying language controversy is a major policy U-turn by the Maharashtra government. The state, ruled by a BJP alliance, recently rolled back two government resolutions that had made Hindi compulsory in primary schools. The reversal came in the face of intense resistance from regional parties, including the MNS, adding to the existing conflict over linguistic identity in the state.
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