MNS vs cops over ‘Marathi pride' in Thane: Latest in Thackerays' comeback pitch

After a protest march was not permitted by cops, scores of MNS and Shiv Sena-UBT workers were detained; the street action is part of Uddhav and Raj's politics

In the latest chapter of the ‘Marathi pride’ saga unfolding in Maharashtra over the past two months, the streets of Thane on Tuesday saw angry men and women raising slogans and being picked up or pushed into buses by cops.

MNS took out a rally in Maharashtra's Thane even as the state government said they were never granted permission. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

These were workers of Raj Thackeray's MNS and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), newly patched-up after two decades, who wanted to hold a march against the local traders. These traders had held a march, too, last week after MNS workers beat up some of them who could not speak in Marathi.

What did CM, police say?

Police did not allow the march-versus-march, saying that the MNS and UBT protesters refused to follow a designated route.

But they went ahead anyway, preferring to be loaded onto buses in a dramatic fashion than heed to what they called “unfair and biased” rules of the police.

MNS workers being detained by police in Thane. (HT Photo)

At this, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis weighed in, saying the police had told him there could be a “law and order issue” if the march went ahead. The traders' march had followed the designated route, hence was allowed, he added, rubbishing allegations of bias in permission.

Who joined in?

By the afternoon, action shifted to the outside of a police station where the detained workers were kept. Leaders arrived there – not Raj and Uddhav, but other seniors from both parties – to participate in slogan-raising and some heckling with the cops.

When a minister from from Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, partner in the BJP-led government, sought to stand with – even support – the protesting group, he was heckled away.

Some MNS leaders took the local train to the site, mingling with the crowds as the police have been picking up the Thackerays' key workers since before the protest march.

They alleged that the police were not allowing Marathi people to protest in their own land. “Where else will we hold a march for our language, if not in Maharashtra?” several of the marchers said before being picked up by cops.

What's the power struggle at play?

When CM Fadnavis said “such kind of experiment won't work here”, he was referring to the protest allegedly being an attempt by the Thackerays to win back relevance, using linguistic sub-nationalism.

The language plank is not new to the Thackeray political clan as its founder and late patriarch Bal Thackeray – Udhhav's father and Raj's uncle – used it as a launchpad for his Shiv Sena about 50 years ago. The family has returned to it several times since, with now being a big moment as Uddhav and Raj have come back together after 20 years.

What's with the slapping?

While Raj's MNS is particularly infamous for being rough on the streets – a style that the relatively mild-mannered Uddhav did not inherit from father Bal Thackeray – the immediate trigger cited is an alleged imposition of Hindi.

A government order making Hindi a mandatory third language in primary schools stoked the row. The order was later withdrawn, but the politics on it rolls on.

Videos of MNS workers slapping traders and others over not speaking Marathi have gone viral.

Raj Thackeray has no regrets about the slapping, but dished out advice about the modus operandi. “There is no need to beat people for that if they don't speak Marathi…" he first said at the Thackeray cousins' reunion rally last week. Then came the advice: “Yet, if someone does some drama, you must hit them below their eardrums. [But] if you beat someone, don't make a video of the incident. Let the person beaten up tell that he has been beaten up; you don't need to tell everyone.”

Uddhav, too, sought to take on the street-fighter persona for a bit: “Yes, we are goons; if we have to be goons to get justice, we will do goondagiri.”

Reunion 'in Marathi’

"Your power is in the legislature. We have power on the street," Raj said further, seeking credit in general for the withdrawal of the Hindi-in-schools decision.

Uddhav was more direct about wanting power in the legislature after all. He said they would work together in the Mumbai municipal elections due soon.

Uddhav is a former CM – who resigned after Eknath Shinde took away most of his MLAs, the party, and the symbol three years ago – while Raj has struggled to make an electoral impact ever since he left the original Shiv Sena in 2006 when Bal Thackeray preferred son Uddhav as his successor. Raj, with his fiery speeches and being a cartoonist like his uncle, was seen as the spiritual successor.

Uddhav is a relatively quiet operator and a photographer, who took the Sena away from longtime ally BJP, and into the Congress-NCP camp. This led to Eknath Shinde breaking away citing diversion from Hindutva.

The Thackeray cousins have now laid claim to Hindutva, too, “but in Marathi” as they said at the reunion.

Story behind the curtains

Reunion talks were reportedly on even before the language issue came up. Raj had spoken of a patch-up in April, and then came the June 17 government order making Hindi a mandatory third language. That issue exploded, with the Thackerays and their parties taking to the streets. The protest and detentions in Thane were the latest chapter.

The real turning point was the 2024 assembly election result, HT has reported. Uddhav's Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Sharad Pawar alliance could not dislodge the BJP-led alliance in the state polls, even after doing well in the Lok Sabha polls six months earlier.

Joining forces for perception and legacy was seen as a logical next move for the Thackerays.