Raj Thackeray

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Raj Thackeray bigraphy, stories - Indian politician

Raj Thackeray : biography

– 17 November 2012

Raj Shrikant Thackeray (born as Swararaj Shrikant Thackeray) is an Indian politician and the founder and president of the right-wing Marathi ethnocentric regional political party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena ("Maharashtra Reformation Army") in the state of Maharashtra, India. He is the nephew of Bal Thackeray, and a cousin of Uddhav Thackeray the current Leader and Chairperson of the Shiv Sena.

Political career

Political Views

Marathi identity

Raj Thackeray and his party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, state that Maharashtra State, Marathi language and Marathi Manoos are subverted by the influence of Marathi politicians. Accessed October 2011.

Opposition to immigrants

Raj Thackeray has opposed immigration into Maharashtra from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. ExpressIndia.com. Retrieved 25 October 2011

Violence in Agitations

Raj Thackery and his party have been criticized for use of violence during their agitations, especially directed towards immigrants from UP and Bihar. On use of violence, Thackeray says that violence is a part of all agitations in Indian politics, and there are several cases of much more violence carried out by other parties and organisations. According to him, the incidences of violence involving members of his party have been unduly highlighted by North Indian politicians and journalists.

Support of Narendra Modi

Thackeray is an admirer of Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi for his governance, and the development of Gujarat during his tenure. In August 2008, Raj Thackeray visited Gujarat on a 9-day trip as ‘state guest’ to study the development in Gujarat. He also advised politicians in Maharashtra, irrespective of party, to take lessons from Modi and Gujarat. He has also expressed support for Modi for the post Prime Minister of India for the 2014 Lok Sabha (general) election.

Controversies & Agitations

2008 violence against UP & Biharis

In February 2008 Raj Thackeray led a violent movement in what was labelled an andolan (uprising/ protest) against the dominance of migrants from the North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in Maharashtra and more so in its commercial capital of Mumbai. His party and Shiv Sena banned Australian cricketers participating in IPL 3 from playing in Mumbai as a protest against the attack on Indian students down under. At a rally in Shivaji Park, Raj warned that if the dadagiri (intimidating dominance) of these people in Mumbai and Maharashtra continued, he would be compelled to make them leave the metropolis. Raj was arrested along with a Samajwadi Party leader, Abu Azmi, for their involvement in the fracas, but was released on paying a penalty of .

Acquittal in Kini murder case

In July 1996, Ramesh Kini was found dead in a cinema in Pune. Kini was a tenant in a ramshackle tenement in central Mumbai, whose landlord, Laxmikant Shah, was trying to evict him. Shah also happened to be a close childhood friend of Raj Thackeray. A CBI enquiry was later issued for the case, but the CBI dismissed the case as one of suicide.

Kohinoor mill controversy

Shiv Sena opposed sale of mill land, but Raj Thackeray bid for and won mill land in prime Mumbai real estate. On 21 July 2005, Raj and Unmesh Joshi, son of Shiv Sena Leader Manohar Joshi purchased a five acre plot of land, Kohinoor Mill No. 3, located across the road from the Shiv Sena party headquarters in Dadar, Mumbai for . The NCP leader from Mumbai, Sachin Ahir, objected to the sale of the Kohinoor Mill land, saying that there were forty bids, yet only three were short-listed. He demanded a re-bid as there was a lack of transparency in the move.

Insistence on Marathi signboards for Mumbai shops

In July 2008, Raj issued a public warning that Mumbai shops needed to have Marathi signboards in addition to the existing English signboards. He warned that after one month, MNS workers would start blackening non-Marathi signboards. While there had been a law to this effect passed earlier by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, it had not been enforced.