Latest news with #BJP-Sena
Hindustan Times
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
BJP-Sena slam Uddhav, go soft on Raj
MUMBAI: The overwhelming response to the joint MNS-Shiv Sena (UBT) rally on Saturday could be bad news for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance ahead of local body elections. And, yet, the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena appear to have taken a lenient approach towards MNS chief Raj Thackeray, while unleashing heavy artillery on Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for his 'greed for power'. BJP-Sena slam Uddhav, go soft on Raj Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis responded to Raj's sarcastic comment, that Fadnavis had achieved what even Bal Thackeray couldn't, by getting the cousins to unite, saying he was 'grateful to Thackeray for his complement'. Fadnavis, however, ignored Raj's comment on BJP leader LK Advani, where he remarked that Advani had attended St Patrick's School run by Christian missionaries but it didn't mean one could question his commitment to Hindutva. Similarly, Raj pointed out, there was no connection between Marathi pride and an English-medium education. Fadnavis, however, attacked Uddhav, saying, 'Although the rally was about Marathi pride, Uddhav chose to speak about politics and how he was ousted from power. He is speaking out of frustration, as they have nothing to show despite ruling the BMC for over 25 years.' Deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde praised Raj, saying he echoed the anguish of the Marathi people, while Uddhav spoke out of his 'greed for the power'. 'We swept him away by our mutiny three years ago and he has not been able to bounce back. Now he's looking to shoot from someone else's shoulder, to stay relevant. While his (Uddhav's) efforts were for power, Raj Thackeray spoke with dignity, without deviating from the cause of Marathi,' he said. Mahayuti leaders say they are still hopeful of the MNS's support in the upcoming local body elections, just as they had received during the Lok Sabha and assembly elections last year. BJP leaders believe the Thackeray cousins will not forge a formal alliance, while the window for an alliance with Raj Thackeray is still open for the Mahayuti. What transpired between Raj and Fadnavis three weeks ago is still under wraps. There could be a more strategic reason for going soft on Raj on Saturday – the BJP-Sena are hoping to drive a wedge between the Thackerays and create confusion among party workers.
New Indian Express
02-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Accord mother tongue prominence, but embrace languages sans borders
The 2020 National Education Policy's insistence on teaching at least two languages in school is based on sound science. Research shows that learning multiple languages before adulthood improves crucial skills such as cognition, hand-eye coordination and memory. However, it's the BJP-Sena government's bid to introduce it in primary schools that drew the ire of parents, teachers, language activists and opposition politicians. To Fadnavis's attempts of propping the Union government's policy in his defence, Marathi language activists posit the NEP's advice for instruction only in the local or home language till class 8. The boon and bane of having the same script, Devanagari, is back in intellectual discourse. Such a tangle of livewires has tripped the ambitious chief minister's stride towards Hindi. It's indeed a sensitive issue in a state where people still honour the '106 martyrs' who died in the late 1950s agitating for a separate Marathi speakers' province. Yet ironically, like dominant tongues in several other states, Marathi too flexes muscle for what scholar Prachi Deshpande calls the 'bear hug' of language. Konkani speakers on the state's southern borders have resisted Marathi's sway for decades, while Dangi speakers on its northern fringes are still contending with its peremptory ways. The abiding paradox is that though most Indian states were demarcated linguistically, language itself brooks no border. In a country with 22 constitutionally scheduled languages and hundreds of others thriving, we have to accept lingual influences across and within state lines. Despite the heat of politics, culture shrivels in the cold confines of hard borders.
United News of India
17-05-2025
- Politics
- United News of India
Maha: Sanjay Raut blames Amit Shah for snapping alliance with undivided Shiv Sena
Mumbai, May 17 (UNI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of breaking over two-decade-long BJP-Sena alliance. He claimed that when Shah came to Delhi, the gap between BJP and undivided Shiv Sena started to open. He said that BJP leader late Arun Jaitley had tried to convince Shah against creating a gap between two parties and told Shah that Shiv Sena is their old party friend, but he did not budge on his decision, he alleged. Raut said that Jaitley, who was ill at that time, had also told him that he tried to explain to Shah twice, but in vain. The Shiv Sena MP also accused BJP and Shah of resorting to a brutal way to destroy the opposition parties in the country. UNI SP SS
