Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, under flak for his strident anti-north Indian campaign, has decided to send letters to every household in the state, urging them to use Marathi in daily life. "Thackeray will pen the letter in Marathi and MNS workers will go to households in the state on February 27 to deliver the letter," a MNS leader said. "In the letter, the MNS chief will urge the people to use Marathi everywhere, including offices, trains and markets."
By the next election, the Shiv Sena too may end up like Raj Thackeray's MNS.
HC raps Maharashtra government again over MNS violence. "Why no chargesheets have been filed against any of the offenders?" division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice S A Bobde asked. "Keep the senior officer in charge of the probe present in the court next Wednesday (December 10)," ordered the high court.
Citizens are finding cyberspace to be the best way to express their views on the grisly terror act and are not shying away from holding the country's politicians responsible for the situation.
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court on Wednesday stayed the arrest warrant against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray till January 4, 2010.The Badnapur JMFC court had issued the arrest warrant against Raj in connection to a stone pelting incident at a bus near Hirvi Phata in Badnapur of Jalna district on October 21 in 2008. Justice S S Shinde of the Aurangabad bench passed the order and advocate Sagar Ladda appeared for Raj.
Dr Singh, in a letter written on October 27, told Deshmukh that his government cannot be a spectator during deliberate attempts to disturb peace in the state, NDTV reported.
Under attack for his campaign against north Indians, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Friday softened his stand on Chhat puja, saying that he was not opposed to the festival being celebrated in Maharashtra but warned against it being used as a show of political strength.
The issue of 'Marathi pride' raised by Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has polarised the state politics and the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition can ill afford to ignore its emotive appeal in an election year.
Jagdish Prasad, father of Pawan Kumar, who was allegedly killed by MNS activists in Mumbai, filed a murder case against Raj Thackeray in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Biharsharief, Nalanda. A court official told rediff.com that Jagdish Prasad has filed a case against Raj Thackeray under 302 of IPC.
The Maharashtra government is tightening its noose on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray as it filed four more cases at different places in the state against him.
Hundreds of slogan-shouting students descended on Barh railway station in Rural Patna demanding that Thackeray, who has been arrested, be tried for sedition, and set ablaze the coach of the Danapur-Durg South Bihar Express, Superintendent of Railway Police (Patna) D N Gupta said.
Hundreds of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supporters were expected to gather outside the court to see their leader Raj Thackeray who will appear before it on Wednesday afternoon. The police resorted to cane charge on MNS supporters who were present in large numbers outside the court despite heavy police presence.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chief Raj Thackeray on Monday dared Maharashtra government to arrest him and warned the state will have to "regret" the consequences in the event of that.
Late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray made BJP leaders remove posters that proclaimed Modi, then CM of Gujarat, as the 'Hindu Hriday Samrat'.
The warrant against Thackeray for allegedly making derogatory remarks against members of the Bihari community, was brought to Mumbai by the Jamshedpur police and will be served on the MNS leader later in the week as Thackeray is presently out of the city, he said.
It was a meeting to show solidarity with the laid-off Jet Airways staffers, but MNS chief Raj Thackeray's men turned it into a coaching class for Marathi.
Toughening his stand against migrants, specially north Indians, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday indicated that his party would launch more intense agitation on the issue.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, on Wednesday, sought to revoke the four year suspension of four of its legislators, saying it had already apologised for any "disrespect" caused to a woman MLA during Monday's mayhem in the Maharastra assembly but made no mention of the assault on Samajwadi Party member Abu Asim Azmi.
The rivalry between the two leaders began last year, when Raj launched an anti-north Indian campaign, demanding rights for sons-of-the-soil.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday slammed the Maharashtra government for its handling of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's agitation about Marathi signboards."Why no action has been taken against respondent number six (Raj Thackeray)?....Are some people untouchable for you?" Justice Patel asked as the government failed to file a proper reply regarding the action taken.
Within 10 days of being elected to the state assembly, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has already begun to make its presence felt even before entering the House.
Amitabh Bachchan addressed a press conference on September 10 to clear the air about the controversy that erupted after his wife Jaya's comments at the Drona music launch. He also announced that his new film, The Last Lear, would release as per schedule this week despite Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray calling for a ban on all Bachchan movies in Maharashtra.
Noted filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh talks about his first English film starring Amitbah Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal and Shefali Shah, and the Jaya Bachchan controversy.
Maharasthtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has stated that the party will not allow the release of films starring the Bachchans until Jaya Bachchan tenders an unconditional apology over her alleged anti-Marathi remarks.
In the overcrowded local trains, auto-rickshaw stands, BEST buses and long queues at the Bandra-Worli sea link toll plaza, the staple language of Mumbai is Hindi, unlike most of the other cities of Maharashtra, where Marathi still dominates the public conversation domain.
A delegation of shop owners on Friday requested Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray to extend the deadline for Marathi signboards by three months. With festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Dusshera and Diwali round the corner, shop owners need some time to put up Marathi boards and change interior of the shops accordingly, they said.
Stepping up his campaign for Marathi signboards, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray warned shop owners, not putting up the boards by Thursday, to face the wrath of his men and asked police to think before lathi-charging his party workers. Raj said he has written a letter to the police, asking them to "think twice" before lathi-charging MNS activists involved in the agitation to enforce the civic body's deadline stipulating Marathi signboards on the city shops.
Karan Johar's latest production Wake Up Sid has come into trouble from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena because the film used the word Bombay.
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to allot a common symbol of 'Railway engine' to Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena for contesting the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra.
A court in Jamshedpur issued a non-bailable warrant against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for failing to appear before it in a case regarding his alleged derogatory remarks on 'chat festival'.
Some Shiv Sena veterans say, "The Sena is eroding on its own, we don't have to quit this party. It breaks our heart to see the end, but it is inevitable." Neeta Kolhatkar on the crisis confronting the Shiv Sena.
Members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on Saturday celebrated the 40th birthday of their leader Raj Thackeray by organising blood donation camps and other social activities.However, the MNS refrained from holding a Hatt Puja programme, a take-off on the Chhat Puja performed by north Indians, which has become a bone of contention between MNS and migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.Over 20,000 supporters visited the MNS chief's home at Dadar and greeted their leader.
A Jamshedpur court on Friday issued an arrest warrant against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, the second such warrant by a Jharkhand court in the past one year, after he failed to appear in the court on Thursday in connection with a case of making allegedly provocative comments against members of a particular community about a year ago.On May 16, the Jharkhand high court directed the MNS chief to appear in the lower court in Jamshedpur on June 12.
As soon as the House assembled for the day, SP members were up on their feet shouting slogans but Chairman Hamid Ansari asked the members to settle down as obituary references had to be made. The SP members raised slogans demanding arrest of Raj Thackeray and protection of the Constitution.
Accused of not doing enough for Maharashtra, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Tuesday said nothing could stop him from staying in Mumbai even if those opposed to him "throw bottles at my house or paint my posters black or burn effigies".
Police harassed superstar Amitabh Bachchan and favoured people like Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi alleged on Friday. Azmi claimed Bachchan was forced to withdraw a case of attack on his bungalow in Mumbai during the anti-north Indian campaign led by the Raj's party.
The auto sector in Pune, which houses production centres of the most prominent auto manufacturers in the country, says that 60-70 per cent of its labour is already local. They were reponding to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's call yesterday urging companies to reserve 80 per cent of all industrial jobs created for local Maharashtrians.
Two months after targetting north Indian migrants, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray has raked up son-of-the soil issue demanding 80 per cent job reservation for Marathi-speaking locals in private sector.
A poster mocking actor Amitabh Bachchan on being part of the No-Honking Drive initiative of the Mumbai Traffic Police was put up in Mumbai on Wednesday. The poster -- Marathi -- bears the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena logo, Juhu residents said.
The ongoing tussle between Amitabh Bachchan and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thackeray has taken another turn, as the Bollywood superstar has broken his silence once again. In an interview to the tabloid Mumbai Mirror, Bachchan said, 'I am not leaving this city and going anywhere. Let them throw bottles and stones. Let them burn my effigies and bring morchas in front of my house -- but I won't budge.'
