Bal Thackeray says ‘shabbaash’ to Prashant Bhushan’s attackers

Mumbai, October 14: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray Friday congratulated the people who attacked senior lawyer and Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan in his chamber in the Supreme Court in Delhi two days ago.

In a statement in the party’s mouthpiece, Dopahar Ka Saamna, Thackeray referred to Bhushan’s statements on Jammu and Kashmir and said: “Shabbaash! Those who speak of dividing the country should be taught a lesson like this.”

Thackeray said one cannot remain cool if somebody tries to instigate you. “The person who makes such statements is guilty first, then the people who teach him a lesson,” he said.

He declared that anybody who speaks of dividing the country “must be taught a lesson like this”.

Eminent Supreme Court lawyer Bhushan was Wednesday attacked by three people inside his chamber as a protest against his statements on Jammu and Kashmir.

While one of the attackers belongs to Sri Ram Sene, the other two are from the Bhagat Singh Sena. Police nabbed them, but more Anna supporters were attacked by the group Thursday.

Thackerays polarised over Belgaum 

BELGAUM: With Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray ending his silence in the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra on Wednesday by asking his nephew and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray to ‘shut up’ and speak only after gaining knowledge about the dispute, it has emerged that the issue has caused a chasm within the Thackeray clan.
The Shiv Sena chief went on to describe the MNS chief’s advisory to pro-Maharashtra groups of Belgaum to learn Kannada and live in harmony there  as “bakwaas” (nonsense). Raj Thackeray’s statement, it must be remembered, had elicited widespread resentment in Belgaum, with the pro-Maharashtra outfits burning his effigies expressing their outrage.The MNS chief on Monday issued a statement, without naming any leaders, that the so-called leaders of Maharashtra are deceiving the pro-Maharashtrians of Belgaum by falsely assuring them that Belgaum would be soon be merged with Maharashtra. He added that he will not issue any such statements. “I will stick to my stand and am prepared to repeat it anywhere,” Raj Thackeray had said.This elicited a barbed response from Bal Thackeray’s son, Uddhav, too, who on Wednesday was quoted by the Media as saying that when the Marathis of Belgaum were in jail for demanding its merger with Maharashtra, Raj, by issuing such statements, was only “wetting his bed”. “The MNS chief must probably be issuing such statements after being lulled into thinking that they are not his voters,” Uddhav Thackeray said. “Belgaum, Nippani and Karwar, which were once part of Maharashtra, are in Karnataka; Marathi outifts are fighting for their rights in Karnataka,” he asserted.

Raj Thackeray warns against anti-Marathi remarks (Lead) 

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray Thursday warned that if Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders continued to make irresponsible statements on north Indian migrants, the Marathis could resort to extreme reactions and even riots.
Castigating the “politics played in the name of north Indians versus Marathis by organising festivals like Chhat Puja”, Thackeray said that statements of leaders like Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh, city MP Sanjay Nirupam of the Congress and SP state chief Abu Asim Azmi had the potential to incite Marathis.
Raj Thackeray's sharp reaction came in response to statements by Kripashankar Singh and Azmi at the Chhat Puja celebrations two days ago that "Mumbai does not belong to anybody's father" but to all who live and work here.

“I would like to inform Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister R.R. Patil, that if the Marathis resort to violence, then we should not be blamed,” Raj Thackeray told reporters.
He urged the three to immediately intervene in the matter before the situation goes out of control.
The MNS chief’s remarks came hours after Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray asserted in the party mouthpiece "Saamna" that migrants were not invited by anybody to the state and that “Mumbai would always belong to the Marathis” and not outsiders.
Bal Thackeray also challenged Kripashankar Singh, Azmi and Nirupam to prove who was “the father of Mumbai” before making such statements.
Raj Thackeray also hit out at Hindi television channels and said that the MNS had started monitoring their content.
“If we find their coverage to be one-sided or biased, we shall not allow them to beam here,” he warned.
Reiterating that it was the Shiv Sena and its executive president Uddhav Thackeray who encouraged and nurtured Nirupam, Raj Thackeray said now it had become difficult for them (Sena) to handle him (Nirupam).
“It was Uddhav (Thackeray) who encouraged Nirupam to conduct Chhat Pujas in Mumbai and the same Uddhav used to visit (Kripashankar) Singh’s residence during Ganeshotsav. Look at the consequences of all that,” Raj Thackeray said.
The MNS chief claimed that when he had spoken on the migrants' issue a couple of years ago, he was gagged, prohibited from speaking in public and even jailed.
He referred to the clashes between north Indians and Marathis around two-and-half years ago in some parts of the state.
“What is the government now doing about the inflammatory statements by (Kripashankar) Singh, Azmi or Nirupam,” he asked.

Congress misleading on Ambedkar memorial, Bal Thackeray warns Dalits  

Thackeray warns dalits against Congress

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Monday asked Dalits not to get 'misled' by the central government's assurance that the Indu Mills land in south-central Mumbai would be allotted for a memorial for B.R. Ambedkar.

In a front-page statement in the party mouthpiece Saamna, party chief Bal Thackeray said it 'was just another carrot dangled by the Congress' to secure Dalit votes in the forthcoming municipal elections.

“Our Dalit brothers should not get over-enthusiastic by the Congress's assurance that the centre has agreed 'in principle' to allot the (12.5 acres) Indu Mills land for the memorial,” Thackeray said.

He pointed out that the Congress's game lies in the words 'in principle' and it may or may not materialise since it is designed only to capture Dalit votes.

“With elections round the corner, the Congress has started doling out many such assurances as it is desperate for votes,” Thackeray said.

Recounting the assurances made by the government in the past few months, the aging leader said mill workers have been promised free homes, slum dweller have been promised regularisation of all slums that came up till 2000, Muslim reservations were announced recently and now the assurance of Indu Mills land.

Thackeray appealed to the Dalits not to get lured by the assurances and ensure the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Republican Party of India alliance is voted to power.

The statement comes in the wake of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi last week on the Indu Mills land, which belongs to the centre.

After the meeting, Chavan announced the prime minister had agreed 'in principle' to give the mill land for the Ambedkar memorial.

The Indu Mill has been in the news since nearly a month after some Dalit activists 'captured' the land and vacated it last week following intervention by state Home Minister R.R. Patil.