Imposing Hindi is a ‘suicidal’ move: Raj

RALLY AT MIRA ROAD

- Yogesh Naik

A day after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis insisted on a three-language formula in the state's primary schools, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray called it a “suicidal move”.

“This time not only shops but even schools would be closed,” he threatened, while addressing a rally at Mira Road on Friday, where MNS workers had assaulted a shop-owner for not speaking in Marawthi. “If the government wants to die by suicide, they should do so,” Thackeray remarked. “We announced a morcha (planned earlier by Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS to protest the purported imposition of Hindi) and they withdrew the decision. Why is Maharashtra’s chief minister hellbent on making Hindi compulsory?”

“They are testing the waters. If this is accepted, the next step will be to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra. The Centre has been putting pressure for long to make Hindi compulsory - its plan is to attach Mumbai to Gujarat,” he claimed. He also alleged that attempts were being made to change the demography of the Mira Road-Palghar belt, and “once locals are outnumbered, the area will be attached to the neighbouring Gujarat”.