Mumbai: Reeling from successive electoral defeats, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray is seeing an opportunity to regain popularity through the ongoing protest against the imposition of Hindi across the country.
On Friday, Swadhin Nari Shakti, a women’s group from Assam, met Mr. Thackeray and invited him to Assam in September to address the issue of outsiders stealing jobs. The group also claimed Assamese people are fighting a similar battle against outsiders to save their culture and language.
This is the second instance within a week where Mr. Thackeray and his party have been invitated to address the issue of preserving local language and culture. Last week, the Kannada Rakshana Vedike (KRV), a pro-Kannada organisation, invited the MNS to join to form an anti-Hindi front of all regional parties from non-Hindi-speaking States, which has been accepted.
A senior MNS leader said, “The way government agencies are aggressively forcing Hindi on non-Hindi populatios is going to turn into a much bigger issue. He (Raj) is known all over the country for his staunch views on regional sovereignty and against Delhi’s interference in State matters. We feel he can be central in creating a stir.”
Mr. Thackeray, however, has maintained silence on the possibility of him leading the movement, but close aides confirmed he has been receiving similar invitations from various regional groups to form an aggressive non-Hindi front.