Mumbai: Raj Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray set to share stage at 'victory' rally

After two decades the estranged Thackeray cousins Uddhav and Raj will share public stage and jointly hold a mega victory gathering on Saturday in Mumbai to celebrate the Maharashtra governments roll back of the threelanguage policy in primary schoolsShiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS president Raj Thackeray whose parties are known to aggressively push the cause of Marathi identity and language are coming together one one stage just ahead of the local body polls including the cash rich Mumbai civic corporationThe last time the two cousins shared the stage was during the election campaign of Malvan assembly bypoll in 2005 after former chief minister Narayan Rane had quit the undivided Shiv Sena Raj Thackeray quit the Shiv Sena shortly in the same year and floated the MNS in 2006The Shiv Sena UBT and MNS have jointly organised the victory gathering at the NSCI Dome in central Mumbais Worli which also happens to be in the assembly constituency of Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya ThackerayThe two parties have urged other political outfits who have protested against making Hindi compulsory in primary schools and also people from the field of literature art to participate in the gatheringThe victory celebration is being held at a time when MNS activists were caught on camera assaulting a footstall owner for not speaking in Marathi while two persons were made to apologise to a man in the presence of Shiv Sena UBT leader Rajan Vichare for allegedly assaulting himAlthough both Shiv Sena UBT and MNS have decided not to use any partys flag banners poll symbol hoardings and scarf during the event the political messaging is evident at a time when they are witnessing diminishing electoral influence after their dismal performance in the 2024 state assembly polls The Sena UBT won 20 assembly seats while the MNS drew a blankThe Congress an ally of the Sena UBT will not be a part of the victory celebration state Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said but maintained his party supports the protest against making Hindi mandatory for students of Classes 15NCP SP president Sharad Pawar who is allied with the Congress and the Sena UBT under the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA banner told reporters in Pune on Thursday that he will not attend the event due to prior commitmentsNCP SP state president Jayant Patil told PTI that his partys working president Supriya Sule party MLA Jitendra Awhad or either of them will attend the celebration He said MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar had called him to invite the NCP SP for the eventOn ground Shiv Sena UBT and MNS cadres were charged up for the event considering their top leaders will come together for the first time in two decades for such an eventOn June 29 amid a growing chorus against the introduction of the Hindi language in Maharashtra schools from Classes 1 to 5 the state cabinet withdrew two GRs government orders on the implementation of the threelanguage policy On the same day the Sena UBT and MNS leaders had burnt copies of the GR and had planned a mega protest march on July 5Uddhav and Raj had then said the government blinked after witnessing the unity of Maharashtrians and did not want them to come together Claiming victory both decided to hold a victory celebration on the same dayThe BJPled Mahayuti government had issued a GR on April 16 making Hindi a compulsory third language for students in Classes 1 to 5 studying in English and Marathi medium schools Amid a backlash the government issued an amended GR on June 17 making Hindi an optional languageThe move was criticised by the Opposition parties Shiv Sena UBT MNS and NCP SP which dubbed it the imposition of Hindi on MaharashtraAdjoining Thane city witnessed a wave of celebration and symbolic unity on Friday as MNS and Sena UBT workers jointly distributed sweets on the rallyeveTo mark the occasion and celebrate the growing bonhomie between the two warring cousins activists distributed laddoos to citizens at major junctions in the city accompanied with traditional drum beats music and cheersWearing party caps and waving flags workers stationed themselves in front of large hoardings of the Thackeray cousins and handed out sweets to motorists and pedestrians alikeIn a parallel development members of the Koli community came together in prayer holding a special pooja at the Aai Ekvira Temple in Louiswadi Thane The event was a symbolic gesture to pray for unity between the Thackeray cousinsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever