After Vasai, MNS targets Gujarati signboards in Kandivali
Screengrabs from the video
A day after pulling down Gujarati signboards from some commercial establishments in Vasai, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers turned their attention to signboards in suburban Kandivali.
Earlier on Sunday, while addressing a Gudhi Padwa rally in central Mumbai, Thackeray had called for a “Modi-mukt Bharat”, alleging that the Bullet Train project was a ploy to de-link the Vasai-Virar belt, with an ultimate aim to separate Mumbai.
Referring to the mushrooming of Gujarati signboards, the MNS chief had said encouraging outsiders to settle in the Vasai-Virar belt was a part of the grand design to achieve the said goal as in 1960, Gujarat had failed to get Mumbai, for which it had staked a claim.
After the rally, MNS workers, carrying party flags, ransacked a few roadside eateries near Vasai, on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway on Sunday night and destroyed their signboards written in Gujarati.
On Monday, some shops in Mumbai that had Gujarati signboards, including Rajubhai Dhoklawala snack shop located at MG Road in the north Mumbai suburb of Kandivli, faced the wrath of the MNS workers.
@Dev_Fadnavis
See the goondagiri of MNS people.Is this what we voted for ?
Do we have to live on threat of this goons?
Do @BJP4India only believes in talks and Kadi-Ninda ?
Its of M.G.ROAD – kandivali (w)@ZeeNewsHindi@mediacrooks pic.twitter.com/iHirJSqS8z— IndiaRising (@Proud_2b_Hindu) March 20, 2018
The Kandivli police lodged a case of rioting against around 10 MNS workers in connection with the vandalism and arrested four persons, Senior Police Inspector Mukund Pawar said.
The cops are also in the process of identifying and arresting the remaining culprits.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that the MNS has attacked properties owned by Gujaratis in Maharashtra.
In July 2017, the party had launched violent protests against a jewellery shop and a hotel in Mumbai, forcing them to pull down their signboards written in Gujarati.
The MNS had started a campaign to ensure that signboards across Mumbai were in Marathi back in 2008.
