Mumbai: The Bollywood actor who has been in the news for speaking up for being a victim of sexual harassment of senior actor Nana Patekar has alleged Raj Thackeray had supported Nana to gain political mileage. Tanushree has alleged, Raj, president of Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS), had sent goons to pelt stones at her van was to assert himself on the state political arena.
“He was eyeing Balasaheb Thackeray’s chair, which he did not get and hence sent goons to break and get above the Shiv Sena. Nalayak people do this to be taken seriously,” said Tanushree. She further said that it is no rocket science to understand who the goons were. She asked citizens who usually hold the city to ransom. “Who holds Mumbai to ransom and unleashes violence? Raj wanted to take over the Sena party after the death of Thackeray, but he did not get it. So he wanted to assert himself,” alleged Tanushree.
Tanushree said the incident occurred in 2008 and for 10 years she was out of Bollywood and went to United States of America (USA). She has gained confidence to speak up of her police complaint, for having spoken even a decade ago, when nobody believed her. After the #MeToo movement catching up across the globe, Tanushree spoke.
A TV reporter who was present during the shooting of the film ‘Horn Ok Pleassss’, when this incident occurred, has tweeted verbatim as it happened. She was supported by another first assistant director on the film set who too corroborated Tanushree’s version. Much later a few stars came forward to extend support to Tanushree and lauded her courage. However, super stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan have refrained from making comments.
People criticised her and trolled her calling her names. Tanushree lamented, “Nobody in Bollywood speaks openly against these incidents. I live in the US and I have a green card. I have come on leave to India and will go back soon. However, people in Bollywood need to speak up.”