Thackeray dares Lalu to hold Chhath Puja in Chennai

HINDI HATRED: Thackeray slams Congress demand to make Hindi an official language at BMC.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

Pune: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday dared Railway Minister Lalu Prasad to perform 'Chhath Puja' at Marina Beach in Chennai to oppose the imposition of Tamil by the Karunanidhi Government in schools across the state.

In a reference to Lalu's recent statement in the wake of MNS leader Raj Thackeray's anti-North Indian stir that he would come to Mumbai to perform Chhath Puja, Thackeray said in an editorial published in party mouthpiece Saamana that the Karunanidhi Government has issued an ordinance making Tamil compulsory in all schools in the state.

"Lalu, who has turned Bihar into a hell, should hold a mela of Biharis in Tamil Nadu ruled by his ally at the Centre to champion the cause of North Indians there."

Launching a scathing attack on the reported demand by some local North Indian Congress leaders that Hindi be made an official language in BMC, Thackeray said, "Let them try this out in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkota and Guwahati first."

"The sons of soil here will not tolerate any insult to the status of Marathi and Mumbai," the edit added.

Thackeray said the Congress leaders making the demand to impose Hindi on Mumbai's civic body should be prosecuted by the Maharashtra government and put behind bars.

Reacting to the statement by state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh that Mumbai's doors were open to all, he said: "Mumbai is being exploited criminally and economically at the cost of the Bhoomiputras who had remained underprivileged."