Mumbai:
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray accused the ruling BJP of playing Bhojpuri songs at Mumbai railway stations to ignite "conflict" and exploiting Chhath Puja, a festival mainly celebrated by people from Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh. The politician, whose brand of politics revolves around "Marathi pride", attributed the ruling party's alleged attempts at "cultural invasion" to the assembly elections in UP and declared that the "divide and rule tactic" will no longer work. BJP ally Shiv Sena dismissed the allegations as "objectionable". But his statements resonated with opposition leaders, including his nephew and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the toxic social media ecosystem it nurtures are currently making desperate attempts to incite conflict in Mumbai, Maharashtra, by exploiting the issue of Chhath Puja. To this end, they are circulating reels on social media depicting the rituals and what they frame as a 'cultural invasion' stemming from them. As if that weren't enough, they even attempted to play Bhojpuri music at certain railway stations in Mumbai, which was promptly shut down by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) anyway," the MNS chief wrote in a long post on X, two days after a controversy erupted over playing Bhojpuri songs at some Mumbai railway stations ahead of the festival.
"Yet, the BJP remains frustrated because the conflict they so desire has failed to materialise. All this frantic manoeuvring is being orchestrated with an eye on the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh," he added.
Thackeray alleged the BJP resorts to communal tensions to garner voters during Lok Sabha elections.
He claimed that to win the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, the BJP manufactured what he called a "Gujarati versus Marathi" conflict.
"I have often stated in my speeches that the BJP cannot win elections based on their actual performance; instead, they engineer conflicts between groups and secure victories on the back of the blood spilt in those clashes. Of course, this is largely a superficial spectacle, as the real work is done by the Election Commission. But it provides them with a convenient narrative to explain how they achieved their victory," he added.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam reacted to the row and questioned the coherence of Thackeray's post.
"I also tried to read and understand Raj Thackeray's lengthy X post. After reading it, the first question that came to my mind was: What exactly are you trying to say?" he said.
He accused Thackeray of taking a "stand against Chhath Puja".
"This entire event has nothing to do with the Uttar Pradesh elections. Elections will come and go, but Chhath Puja has been celebrated for thousands of years. The kind of stand he has taken against Chhath Puja is completely objectionable," he added.
Aditya Thackeray, the son of Raj Thackeray's cousin Uddhav Thackeray, said the BJP has been promoting Chhath Puja only to bag migrant votes.
"Do not force other cultures on Marathi culture. BJP facilitates Chhath Puja only for migrant votes. We actually protected migrants during the Covid crisis," he said.
Congress leader Husain Dalwai said Raj Thackeray is right in opposing the festival.
"Raj Thackeray has opposed it, and he is completely right to do so... Are they trying to turn our Mumbai into Bihar? What kind of thing is this? Mumbai belongs to the Marathi people and Mumbai will remain Mumbai; it will not become Bihar or Gujarat," he said.
"We simply will not allow this... Chhath Puja is not ours; it does not belong to the people of Maharashtra. Where did this Chhath Puja even come from? We have no idea," he added.
With inputs from ANI
