Mumbai outfit wants Raj Thackeray to apologise to North Indians for past attacks

“The organisation is not against Thackeray’s Ayodhya visit. On the contrary, we will welcome him as Uttar Pradesh is our home. But we want him to express regret for the incidents where North Indians were attacked by MNS workers in the past,” said Mumbai Uttar Bharatiya Vikas Sena chief Pandit Sunil Shukla. He will lead a delegation that will meet Thackeray on Friday and present a letter.

Thackeray is scheduled to visit the Ram temple at Ayodhya on June 5 and is also scheduled to meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his UP visit. Ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls in the city, the MNS president has been strongly advocating a Hindutva agenda, a move that insiders say is targeted at exploiting the unrest within Shiv Sena ranks.

“Nobody becomes small by apologising. We are willing to forgive MNS but he (Thackeray) should come forward and express a word of regret for his party’s past acts of violence and attacks on North Indians,” Shukla said. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has apologized to farmers, he added.

Earlier, BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had opposed Thackeray’s visit to Ayodhya. “We will not allow Raj Thackeray to enter Ayodhya as his party had always attacked North Indians,” he had said.

BJP office bearers in Mumbai pointed that the Singh was probably addressing his own voters in his constituency in UP. “I firmly believe every individual who wants to worship Lord Ram is welcome. The doors of Ram temple are open for everybody. Why raise an objection?” opposition leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said at Nashik on Tuesday.