E-Paper
I am not afraid of Thackeray family’s threats: Annamalai
BJP's K Annamalai defies threats from Shiv Sena and MNS, asserting he will return to Mumbai, emphasizing the city's global identity and heritage.
Taking on the Thackeray family, former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on Monday said that he won’t be afraid of intimidation by MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders that his legs will be cut-off if he entered Mumbai again.
“I will come to Mumbai again. Do whatever you can. If I were to get scared of such threats and intimidation, I would have remained in my native village forever,” Annamalai told reporters in Chennai on Monday. “Just like Murasoli (DMK’s party organ) here, Shiv Sena runs a newspaper called Saamana in which they wrote that if I entered Mumbai, they would cut off my leg.”
On January 9, while campaigning for his party during their campaign during the recently concluded Mumbai civic elections, Annamalai said, “Bombay is not a Maharashtrian city but an international city,” leading to immediate backlash from the Maharashta Navanirman Sena (MNS) and Shiv Sena (UBT).
Annamalai on Monday questioned whether he had become a leader “important” enough for MNS chief Raj Thackeray to organise a public meeting in Mumbai to allegedly attack him.
Annamalai added that he respected Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray and he had a picture of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in his office when he was the state president of Tamil Nadu until last year.
Raj Thackeray on Sunday called Annamalai a “rasmalai” and allegedly revived the ‘Hatao Lungi, Bajao Pungi’ slogan from the 1960s largely viewed as discriminatory towards Tamilians. “Who are Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray to threaten me? I am proud to be a farmer’s son. They have organised meetings just to abuse me,” Annamalai said.
Annamalai wondered further how speaking about leaders or cities outside one’s home state undermined the identity of a state or region.
“If we call Prime Minister Narendra Modi the leader of India does that mean he stops being a Gujarati? If we call Kamaraj (late Congress chief minister), a great leader of India, does that mean he stops being a Tamil?” Annamalai asked.
“Similarly, when we call Mumbai the capital of the world does that mean it is not a city built by Maharashtrians? Does it mean that Mumbai was not built by the hard work of Marathi brothers and sisters?”
