With many municipal corporations set to go to polls this year and in the next, Raj will visit Ayodhya in early March before embarking on a month-long state tour
MNS president Raj Thackeray. File pic
With municipal elections approaching fast, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has started working on Hindutva and Marathi planks. Amid a changed political situation in the state, Raj will visit Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir in early March, then celebrate the party’s foundation day and proceed on a 30-day tour of the state.
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On Friday, Raj also met senior MNS leaders to decide the course of action. Party’s ex-MLA Bala Nandgaonkar outlined the MNS' programme. "Raj Thackeray will visit Ayodhya between March 1 and 9," he said, adding that the party will celebrate its foundation day on March 9. Major municipal corporations, including Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Vasai-Virar, and Aurangabad will go to polls in March-April this year, while next February, Mumbai, Thane, Bhiwandi, and many other cities will have their municipal elections, thus making 2021-22 a period of mini assembly elections in urban areas. Much will be at stake for MNS in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Raj Thackeray plans to visit Ayodhya's Ram Mandir between March 1 and 9. File pic
Raj’s cousin and Uddhav Thackeray had visited Ayodhya in 2018 and in 2020 after becoming the chief minister. Raj’s visit will also coincide with a fundraising drive for the Ram Mandir.
Last January, the MNS' shift to a hardcore Hindutva agenda was underlined when it officially adopted a saffron flag with a seal dating back to the reign of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, giving up the multi-colour one used since its inception in 2006. The shift was seen as a move to score over the Shiv Sena, whose Hindutva agenda is being questioned ever since it made a government with secular parties Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.
There has been talk of the possibility of MNS joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party in political corridors, but both sides haven’t said much about the alliance.
Marathi language drive
Highlighting its aggressive demand to make the usage of Marathi as a state language compulsory, the MNS will celebrate Marathi Rajbhasha Divas on February 27 like a festival. It will hold a Marathi signature drive across the state, with Raj participating in Mumbai and Thane. People associated with Marathi teaching, publishing and literature and sportspersons will be felicitated, said Nandgaonkar. The party will conduct a membership drive between February 9 and April 12 and party workers will be given identity cards.
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