Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, who was arrested early Tuesday morning, has been sent to two-week judicial custody by a court in suburban Bandra in Mumbai where he was produced around 2.50 pm. Two truckloads of Rapid Action Force personnel were stationed outside the court for security.
A day after the Supreme Court asked him to desist from making provocative speeches targeting north Indians, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray chose to speak on Hindi saying the language should not be forced on the people.
Nitish Kumar requested Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to deal with such divisive elements with an iron fist. "I expect the Maharashtra government to act tough and protect our students," Nitish Kumar said in Patna on Monday morning.
Public prosecutor Ajay Mishar's ride in Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's car has triggered a controversy with lawyers saying such acts raise doubts whether the Maharashtra government is serious in prosecuting Thackeray in the 2008 riot case.
Giving a new dimension to his son-of-the-soil campaign, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said on Friday that land under irrigation in the state should be given only to Marathi people.
Complying with a Bombay High Court directive, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray today surrendered before a court in Kalyan in Maharashtra in connection with a 2008 rioting case in which North Indians appearing for railway recruitment examination were assaulted.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday surrendered before a court in Aurangabad in connection with four cases of rioting registered against him in 2008, but was later released on bail. Raj presented himself in the court of Judicial Magistrate, First Class, in Gangapur area in Aurangabad in central Maharashtra. The court released him on a bail of Rs 15,000 in all the four cases. He was accompanied by his lawyer Sayaji Nagare.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Monday surrendered before a local court in Jalgaon in a case of rioting registered against him in 2008 and was later released on bail.
The court of 1st class judicial magistrate A K Tiwary on Tuesday issued the warrant and directed Thackeray to be present personally in the court on November 17. It also ordered that a copy of the arrest warrant be issued to the Mumbai police commissioner for its execution.
Rubbishing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray's 'hollow sympathy' for him over the Lok Sabha's privileges committee summons issue, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday told his nephew that he need not bother."We are competent to tackle the case. You should not worry," Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.Raj has threatened not to allow officials and people's representative from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to enter Mumbai.
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi on Monday described Marathi as his mother and Hindi as his grandmother, and said he was learning the local language out of respect and not fear. "Marathi is like mother for me, but Hindi is like my grandmother. I am learning Marathi. (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief) Raj Thackeray should not think that I am learning the language out of his fear," he said.
Ashish Shelar, the city Bharatiya Janata Party chief, rubbished the reports of a secret meeting between former party president Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray at a five-star hotel in Mumbai on Monday.
Flagging his stand on the sons-of-soil issue, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said on Wednesday that if Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab could learn Marathi in a year then why can't Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi who has been living in Mumbai for years.
Favouring a stringent law to deal with attacks on north Indians in Maharashtra, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh today said rowdyism by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or Shiv Sena workers should not be tolerated at any cost.
Thackeray's latest statement is expected to spark more controversy as the MNS chief will be on a statewide tour, starting February 13.
Taking the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena head-on, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Sunday said that it has asked its volunteers to protect north Indians in Maharashtra and prevent the spread of anti-Hindi feelings. "The Sangh Parivar has asked its volunteers in Maharashtra to try and prevent the spread of anti-north Indian and anti-Hindi feelings," said RSS leader Ram Madhav.He said the RSS was opposed to discrimination on the basis of language.
Fuelling the language row further in Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on Monday asked taxi drivers from the Hindi-speaking states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to be conversant in Marathi within 40 days or return to their native homes.
Will Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena make its mark in the forthcoming assembly election in the state?
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."
Zenda, an upcoming Marathi movie based on the feud between Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray has been termed as biased by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists for portraying their leader in "bad light".
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.
After his campaign against North Indians, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Monday asked English medium schools in the state to make Marathi a compulsory subject from first standard and shopowners to put up nameplates in Marathi in a month. The MNS chief also reiterated his appeal to Marathi officials to stop abetting 'outsiders' by issuing bogus domicile certificates and driving licences, saying these acts were rendering the state bankrupt.
According to Raj, north India has always looked down with contempt upon Maharashtra and if the draft notification of CMZ is implemented, development of Maharashtra and Mumbai in particular would be adversely affected.
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.
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Wednesday claimed there was a threat to the life of party Member of Legislative Assembly Abu Asim Azmi, who was assaulted by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena members in the Maharashtra assembly for taking oath in Hindi defying Raj Thackeray's diktat.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday visited Shiv Sena president Bal Thackeray, undergoing treatment at Lilavati Hospital in suburban Bandra, hospital sources said.
The rivalry between the two leaders began last year, when Raj launched an anti-north Indian campaign, demanding rights for sons-of-the-soil.
After attacking migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray has now trained his guns at a growing number of North Indian students coming to Pune for higher education. "Pune, with its large number of reputed universities and institutions imparting higher education is attracting students from these states who are being given admissions on massive donations leaving in the lurch the deserving Marathi aspirants," he said.
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.
Raj was dubbed as 'Dhanajirao' -- a euphemism for one who is wealthy or hankers after money -- by his uncle and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on Thursday made its debut in the Maharashtra assembly, bagging two of the 60 seats in the House. The party, which made a deep dent in the Shiv Sena vote bank during the Lok Sabha polls, was leading in 14 other seats in the 288-member House. MNS candidate Mangesh Sangale won from Vikhroli in suburban Mumbai, defeating Nationalist Congress Party rival Pallavi Patil.
Member of Parliament Abu Asim Azmi has announced the setting up of a helpline for north Indians and proposed to start self-defence courses for migrants
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.
The high-pitch campaign ended on Sunday in Maharashtra for the October 13 assembly elections which saw Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena fighting for the same political space and the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party aiming a hat-trick.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Friday met Governor S C Jamir at Raj Bhavan in the backdrop of the attack on Mumbai University premises by MNS student activists.Jamir, in his capacity as chancellor of universities in the state, had summoned the MNS chief to discuss the ransacking of Mumbai university's registrar chamber over the issue of 'neglect' of Marathi students.
From wearing oversized glasses to the oratory style and issues--Raj Thackeray is trying to emulate whatever his uncle Balasaheb Thackery and the Shiv Sena stood for. A perturbed Uddhav Thackeray, his cousin and son of Balasaheb, already called him "a contractor working on commission for the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combination because he fears that he might be put in a cage like a rat if NCP-Congress comes to power".
Karan Johar's latest production Wake Up Sid has come into trouble from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena because the film used the word Bombay.
Two months after targetting north Indian migrants, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has raked up son-of-the soil issue demanding 80 per cent job reservation for Marathi-speaking locals in private sector and threatened to launch agitation if this was not done, drawing strong protest from the industries. The MNS also warned the industries that if this was not done then they would launch an agitation.
The state government in October last had moved the court seeking cancellation of bail of Raj granted in February by the Vikhroli metropolitan magistrate following his arrest in October after his supporters went on the rampage at several railway recruitment board job centres.
After investigations into the complaint filed on February 3, the police have concluded that there was not much substance in Amar Singh's claim, Deputy Commissioner of Police Brijesh Singh told PTI in Mumbai on Thursday night. Amar Singh, SP general secretary, had filed a complaint with the Azad Maidan Police Station after MNS activists disrupted a press conference by him in the area on February 2.
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