From anti-Hindu statements & lack of ideology to language chauvinism – how Raj Thackeray is making himself irrelevant

MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) Chief Raj Thackeray is losing the political plot faster than his cousin Uddhav Thackeray after his party’s dismal performance in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections. Recently, MNS workers slapped a D-Mart employee and forced him to ‘apologize’ to their party chief for ‘not speaking’ in Marathi.

Raj Thackeray heading the Stalin way

At the outset, promoting the state language is most welcome, but bashing people for not being able to speak it is nothing but goondaism. However, the virus is spreading from TN to Maharashtra, and if not nipped in the bud, then it would harm the social fabric of Hindu society. Why specifically Hindu society? We would get to that a little later.

Raj Thackeray appears to be heading the Stalin way by promoting language chauvinism. Taking a leaf from the TN CM (Tamil Nadu Chief Minister) Stalin’s book, the MNS Chief wanted his party members to ‘learn’ from TN in promoting language chauvinism.

“Have you seen the southern states? Have you seen Tamil Nadu? Look at how they have opposed the Hindi language,” Thackeray said, emphasizing the need for Maharashtra to prioritize Marathi just as Tamil Nadu fiercely protects its linguistic identity.

Raj Thackeray, known for championing Marathi pride, criticized Maharashtra for its lack of reaction to perceived threats against the language. “Every state’s language should be respected. We must ensure that Marathi remains dominant in Mumbai,” he told his party workers.

His comments come against the backdrop of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s assertion that 25 Bharatiya languages, including Marathi, have suffered due to Hindi’s dominance. His son, Udhayanidhi Stalin, also listed several languages that he claimed are on the verge of extinction as they aren’t being spoken.

Funnily, neither Thackeray nor Stalin is bothered about Urdu replacing the state language in their respective states. Taking a cue from his speech, MNS workers have started harassing Hindus across the state. After assaulting a D-Mart employee, MNS workers were seen harassing a security personnel in Mumbai. A hotel employee was beaten with an iron pipe in Satara for not speaking in Marathi. This kind of violence should neither be endorsed nor encouraged.

As mentioned earlier, asking people to learn the state language is not wrong, but assaulting and harassing them for the same is hooliganism that should never be tolerated. Raj Thackeray wanted his workers to ‘ensure bank employees’ speak Marathi. But we have never heard him asking his workers to ensure no ‘Urdu imposition’ in Maharashtra.

You would recall that we spoke about dividing the Hindu Samaj using language chauvinism. Urdu, willingly or forcibly, has come to be associated with Muslims, and hence, we see neither Raj Thackeray nor MK Stalin or Udyanidhi Stalin speak about it for fear of hurting their ‘votebanks.’ We would have expected better from the MNS chief, but his lack of ideology and frequent flip-flops raise suspicion about his seriousness as a political player.

The MNS flop show

Raj Thackeray has a long history of flip-flops and switching sides for political relevance. It is worth noting that despite his frequently changing ideology, or due to it, he has failed to achieve electoral success. His party’s electoral fortunes dwindled to the extent of drawing a blank in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Elections. MNS now risks losing recognition and the party symbol.

Raj Thackeray has a long history of flip-flops and switching sides for political relevance. It is worth noting that despite his frequently changing ideology, or due to it, he has failed to achieve electoral success. His party’s electoral fortunes dwindled to the extent of drawing a blank in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Elections. MNS is now at risk of losing recognition and the party symbol.

MNS chief pushing himself and his party into oblivion

His linguistic chauvinism comes on the back of his recent anti-Hindu jibes at Mahakumbh. In early March, Raj Thackeray mocked the ritual bathing during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. Speaking at the Nineteenth-anniversary celebration of MNS in Pune’s Pimpri-Chinchwad, Raj Thackeray questioned the practice and called upon people to differentiate between faith and superstition.

He said, “People should break free from superstition and use their minds. There’s a difference between faith and blind belief.” He further ridiculed devotees seen bathing in the holy waters at the Sangam — the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati — saying, “On social media, I see people scrubbing themselves and bathing. The Covid pandemic ended just a few years ago; people wore masks for two years, and now they are bathing there. Who would want to drink that water?”

Raj Thackeray also mentioned that senior MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar had brought him a small kamandal of Ganga Jal from the Kumbh, but he refused to even touch it. “Bala brought water from the Ganga and told me to drink it. I flatly refused,” Raj said. He further commented, “Since the time of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, we’ve been hearing about cleaning the Ganga. Yet, no river in the country is clean. We worship Ganga as Ganga Ma, but the reality is different. In foreign countries, rivers are clean and crystal clear.”

Despite all his show of Hindutva, Raj Thackeray mocked common Hindus who bathed in the Triveni. It is fine if Raj Thackeray didn’t want to attend the Mahakumbh or partake the Gangajal, he is well within his rights to do that both as an Indian and a Hindu, but he had no right to mock the common Hindus of this country.

Hindutva is not limited to ‘permitting‘ hassle-free Eid celebrations, supporting Nupur Sharma, and playing Hanuman Chalisa in reply to ‘azaans.’ A Hindutva that mocks the beliefs of crores of Hindus is nothing but a hollow show aimed at capturing Hindu votes. Raj Thackeray is as untrustworthy as his cousin Uddhav who gave up Hindutva to ally with the Hinduphobic Congress in his greed for power.

Constructive criticism and mockery are two different things that Raj Thackeray’s followers would also do well to learn. The crores who participated in the Mahakumbh and bathed at the Triveni, as well as the Ganga and Yamuna rivers, were ordinary Hindus, not necessarily affiliated to any political party and probably cutting across party lines. If the likes of Raj Thackeray cannot appreciate Hindu Dharma and the Parvs associated with it then they can at least desist from making a mockery of Hindu beliefs.

Mocking Hindu beliefs and using caste card to create divisions in Hindu Samaj are tactics used by Congress and its INDI Alliance partners like DMK. However, both these are yeilding negative results these days as Hindu Samaj has woken up to the reality and refused to give in to their divisive tactics.

When their caste card failed, DMK and other INDI alliance states have began raising the bogey of Hindi imposition. The MNS chief is also going down that path. If he wants to stay relevant he has stop doing flip-flops. The upcoming BMC elections will show whether MNS stays afloat or sinks into obvilion, the latter being more likely given the manner in which Raj Thackeray is failing to create a voter base due to his inconsistent stand.

A word of advice for Raj Thackeray – try and fix your ideology which will help your party and may be fetch you some votes!