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Karachi Sweets row: After Sena leader demands shop to cover name, Sanjay Raut says ‘not our official stand’

"You have to do it, we're giving you time. Change 'Karachi' to something in Marathi," Nandgaokar is heard saying in the purported video.

By: Express Web Desk | Updated: November 19, 2020 9:55:11 pm
A video of the exchange between the two was caught on camera in which Nandgaokar is heard asking the owner to change the word 'Karachi' to "something in Marathi". (Express photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

A sweet shop owner in Mumbai’s Bandra West was forced to cover his shop sign with newspaper pages after Shiv Sena leader Nitin Nandgaokar wanted Karachi dropped from its name.

A video of the exchange between the two was caught on camera in which Nandgaokar is heard asking the owner to change the word ‘Karachi’ to “something in Marathi”. “You have to do it, we’re giving you time. Change ‘Karachi’ to something in Marathi,” Nandgaokar is heard saying.

Following the incident, the shop covered its name with a newspaper.

Karachi sweets, karachi sweets bandra (Express photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

Subsequently, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Raut, clarified that the demand for changing the shop’s name is not the party’s official stance. Raut took to Twitter and said, “Karachi bakery and karachi sweets have been in mumbai since last 60 years. They have nothing to do with Pakistan. It makes no sense to ask for changing their names now.Demand for changing their name is not shivsena’s official stance.”

Also read: Our 2009 article that looks at the history of Karachi Sweets and other similarly named establishments

In a similar incident last year in Bengaluru, some men had allegedly barged into a Karachi Bakery, a six-decade-old bakery chain, outlet in Indiranagar and demanded that the management remove the word ‘Karachi’ from its name following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans. Eventually, nine men were arrested for threatening the outlet’s staff, the Deccan Herald had reported.

karachi sweets, karachi sweets bandra (Express photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

A week after the Indiranagar incident, another Karachi Bakery’s outlet manager in Bengaluru claimed he received a call from someone who threatened to “blast the store” if the word Karachi wasn’t removed from signboard, NDTV reported.

Karachi is the largest city of Pakistan and the capital of Pakistani province of Sindh.

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