Eknath Shinde's ‘Jai Gujarat' at Amit Shah event fuels row over Marathi pride

Hindustan Times

19 hours ago

Amid the ongoing controversy over the assault of a shopkeeper by MNS workers, Maharashtra Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde on Friday ended his speech with "Jai Gujarat" though after raising the slogan 'Jai Maharashtra'. Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde. ( Praful Gangurde /HT photo)
Shinde, who was speaking at an event in Pune, lauded Home Minister Amit Shah and ended his speech with this sequence of slogans: 'Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra, Jai Gujarat.'
Shinde's remark received flak from the opposition with NCP (SP) leader Clyde Crasto, who targeted the deputy CM accusing him of being 'greedy for power' as Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi belong to Gujarat.
Also Read: CM Fadnavis on Marathi row: 'Won't tolerate hooliganism in the name of language'
But Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis defended Shinde. "Just because Shinde said 'Jai Gujarat', it doesn't mean that Shinde loves Gujarat more than Maharashtra. Such parochial thinking doesn't behove Marathi people,' Fadnavis told reporters.
The slogan row comes also after viral videos showed workers of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) thrashing shopkeepers in Mumbai for allegedly refusing to speak in Marathi.
Fadnavis, while responding to questions about that, said that Marathi should be respected, but beating anyone will not be tolerated. The chief minister, during a press conference, also said that "hooliganism" in the name of Marathi would not be tolerated.
Maharashtra transport minister Pratap Sarnaik, who is also a leader of Shinde's Shiv Sena, took a swipe at the MNS. "Does the MNS alone possess the right to fight for the Marathi language? If someone is taking law into their hands and targeting working-class individuals for political or financial gains, it will not be tolerated," Sarnaik said.
Also Read: Traders protest MNS slap politics in Mira Road
"We also take pride in being Marathi and in our Hindutva identity. We will not tolerate such incidents. Traders should not be threatened. I had asked the police to take action, and they have done so," he said.
The issue came to the fore ahead of coming civic elections after the BJP-led government sought to introduce Hindi as a third language from Class 1 in state schools. That move was later withdrawn.