Raj Thackeray, Annamalai in a war of words

The fracas was triggered by former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai’s controversial campaign remark on January 9 that ‘Bombay’ was not a Maharashtrian city but an international one

MUMBAI: Raking up a 1960s anti-South Indian slogan of the Shiv Sena in his Sunday rally at Shivaji Park, Raj Thackeray revived old wounds in the Tamil community, which demanded an apology from him. The fracas was triggered by former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai’s controversial campaign remark on January 9 that ‘Bombay’ was not a Maharashtrian city but an international one.

Mumbai, India – 30, Oct 2025: MNS President Raj Thackeray addressing Rally to MNS party supporters, Rangsharda Auditorium, Bandra, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, Oct 30, 2025. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

The MNS chief played a video of the statement that had riled him and Uddhav Thackeray and subsequently blew up into a huge controversy. The Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Akhil Chitre also shared the video, alleging that Annamalai’s statement betrayed the BJP’s real intention: to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra.

On Monday, Annamalai, who Raj had referred to as ‘rasmalai’ in his rally, hit back, saying that he would not be intimidated by the threat in the Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamna that his legs would be cut off if he entered Mumbai again. “I will come to Mumbai. Do what you will. If I were to get scared of such threats, I would have remained in my native village forever,” he said while speaking to reporters in Chennai.

The BJP leader also questioned whether he had become such an important leader that Raj and Uddhav Thackeray had to organise a public meeting to attack him. “Who are they to threaten me?” he demanded. Accusing the cousins of “damaging the legacy of Bal Thackeray”, he said that he had a lot of respect for the Shiv Sena founder. Incidentally, the slogan mouthed by Raj was coined when Bal Thackeray led the Shiv Sena.

Reiterating his controversial statement, Annamalai wondered how it undermined Mumbai’s identity. “If we call PM Narendra Modi the leader of India, does that mean he stops being a Gujarati? If we call Kamaraj (the late Congress CM) a great leader of India, does he stop being a Tamil?” he asked. “Similarly, when we call Mumbai a global capital, does that mean it is not a city built by the hard work of Marathi brothers and sisters?”

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tried to downplay the controversy by stating that calling Mumbai an international city did not mean that it didn’t belong to Maharashtra. He attributed Annamalai calling the city ‘Bombay’ to his attempt to speak in Hindi. He also recalled how he himself was corrected when he referred to Chennai as ‘Madras’ during a speech, a genuine mistake that was not meant as an insult.

Captain Tamil Selvan, Mumbai’s only Tamil legislator from the BJP, said that Fadnavis had “improved Mumbai vastly and made it like an international city”. “But no one can take it away from Maharashtra,” he added, pointing out how his constituency had 90,000 South Indians and also how 13% of Mumbaikars were South Indians.

Condemning what he termed “an attempt to create fissures between Maharashtrians and Tamilians”, Selvan said the two communities had been coexisting peacefully in Mumbai for decades. “In fact, Tamilians respect and honour Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the Bhonsale family, who have been living peacefully in Thanjavur for ages,” he said.

(With inputs from Chennai bureau)