Latest news with #JaiGujarat
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
‘Mumbai was capital of Gujarat': Shiv Sena MP Pratap Jadhav's remark sparks row; UBT fumes, says he betrayed party for 'panaas khoke'
MUMBAI: Days after Dy CM Eknath Shinde came under opposition attack for his 'Jai Gujarat' slogan at an event, Shiv Sena MP Pratap Jadhav faced flak for calling Mumbai the former capital of the neighbouring state. Speaking to reporters in Dharashiv district on Sunday, Jadhav, Union minister of state for health, told reporters, "There is no need to indulge in politics over such issues. Gujarat is our neighbouring state. It is not in Pakistan." During the Samyukta Maharashtra (movement), Mumbai was also the capital of Gujarat, Jadhav said. Shiv Sena (UBT) RS MP Priyanka Chaturvedi objected to Jadhav's remarks. "This man is MoS in the Centre. This man is also someone who betrayed his own party leadership for panaas khoke (50 boxes). You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai This man is also part of the Jai Gujarat party from Maharashtra. No wonder this man has started hallucinating and making up history to please his masters," she posted on X on Monday. Aaditya Thackeray said Jadhav's remarks show hatred for Maharashtra.
India Today
08-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Shinde Sena MP faces heat for calling Mumbai Gujarat's capital
Days after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde came under opposition attack for his 'Jai Gujarat' slogan at an event, his Shiv Sena party MP Pratap Jadhav is facing flak for calling Mumbai as former capital of the neighbouring to reporters in Dharashiv district on Sunday, Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Health, told reporters, 'There is no need to indulge in politics over such issues. Gujarat is our neighbouring state. It is not in Pakistan.'advertisementDuring the Samyukta Maharashtra (movement), Mumbai was also the capital of Gujarat, Jadhav said. Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi objected to Jadhav's remarks.'This man is MoS in the centre. This man is also someone who betrayed his own party leadership for panaas khoke (50 boxes). This man is also part of the Jai Gujarat party from Maharashtra. No wonder this man has started hallucinating and making up history to please his masters,' she posted on X on Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray said Jadhav's remarks show hatred for speaking at an event in Pune last week, lauded Union Home Minister Amit Shah and ended his speech with this sequence of slogans: 'Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra, Jai Gujarat.'While he came in for flak from the opposition members who accused him of being 'greedy for power' as Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi belong to Gujarat, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defended Shinde, saying "Just because Shinde said 'Jai Gujarat', it doesn't mean that Shinde loves Gujarat more than Maharashtra.'- Ends IN THIS STORY#Maharashtra#Gujarat
The Hindu
07-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Political Line Newsletter: Thackerays try a new language
(This is the latest edition of the Political Line newsletter curated by Varghese K. George. The Political Line newsletter is India's political landscape explained every week. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox every Friday.) The attempt by the BJP-led State government to promote Hindi has opened up new space for the cousins. It remains to be seen whether the sagging political fortunes of the cousins could be revived because of language politics. Bal Thackeray combined Marathi and Hindu identity; the BJP took over the Hindu identity space from the Sena and rose to become the leading force in the State in the last decade. Raj has said he is 'Marathi and Hindu' as opposed to 'Hindi and Hindu.' Simultaneously, a controversy over Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde raising 'Jai Gujarat,' along with Jai Maharashtra, at an event has erupted. During the 2021 Assembly elections, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had said she would not allow 'Gujaratis to rule West Bengal.' Ms. Banerjee tries to claim a distinct Bengali, Hindu identity. In that sense, she mimics the Thackerays, in trying to create a vernacular Hindu politics. The State government built a Jagannath Dham in West Bengal, much to the discomfort of the Odisha government. The custodians of the Puri Jagannath temple were up in arms. You can read our reporting here. Between the censuses of 2001 and 2011, Hindi speakers in Maharashtra grew by 35.57% while Marathi speakers grew by 16.23%. In the same period, the percentage of people with Hindi as their mother tongue has risen to 43.63% from 41.03%, country wide, and Hindi is the fastest growing language in India. The new census will likely prove that this trend continues. Past and future in TN politics Archaeological excavations at Keeladi near Madurai in Tamil Nadu continue to animate politics in the State. The antiquity of the Tamil people and delimitation are set to be key campaign issues in the Assembly elections in the State next year. At the heart of the debate is the question whether Tamil Nadu had ancient urban settlements. The TN government has asked the Centre to release the latest findings from the excavation. Experts from Liverpool John Moores University in England studied the skulls excavated from Keeladi and reconstructed the facial features of ancient people who lived around 2,500 years ago. While the Indus Valley Civilization has been proven as urban, the exact nature of Keeladi settlements remains a dispute. While the State government's archaeology department has concluded that the settlement that dates back to the 6th century BCE was indeed urban, some experts in archaeology feel there must be more evidence before that conclusion can be reached. The lead archaeologist for the first two phases was asked by the Archaeological Survey of India to rewrite his report. He refused and his successor thinks there is no continuity in the structures found in the excavation. Politics is often based on disputes rather than conclusions. Tamil identity politics always had claims of antiquity and fears of dominance by the north. All in a name The Central Board of Film Certification thinks the name Janaki, which is another name of Sita, the wife of Rama in the epic Ramayana, cannot be part of a film title. The matter is now in the Kerala High Court. Union Minister and BJP leader Suresh Gopi is the lead actor in the film. The reasoning of the Censor Board is that the title cannot be allowed as the character Janaki is a victim of sexual assault. There are many films that have Janaki in the title that are approved by the Board. A counsel of the Censor Board cited a norm that films are not supposed to have 'adverse references to religion or caste.' 'To this, counsel for the petitioner firm contended that the character Janaki portrayed in the film was a fighter for justice. The court observed that the character was a victim who was fighting for justice, and not an accused.' The arguments of the Board and the filmmakers and the observations of the Court, all seem to agree in principle that a human fictional character can use the name Janaki only when they meet certain qualities. That is certainly an interesting line of reasoning and application of law and norms. That sets a new bar, a very high one, for the mortals among us. Would it be possible that in the future, Indians may be called upon, nay forced by law, to live up to the character of the names that someone with pious intentions had given them? Russia woos Afghanistan Russia became the first country to accord recognition of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and it is only to be expected that the latter's location as a battlefield of grand power conflicts continues. I considered saying history comes a full circle in Afghanistan, but then this might be just another chapter. Islamists, including the forebears of the Taliban in Afghanistan, gained legitimacy in the West as fighters against the Soviet occupation of the country. Now, with Russia and the West locked in an intense geopolitical conflict both in Europe and West Asia, this new alignment between Moscow and Kabul is notable.
Indian Express
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
What a Thackeray reunion may mean for Maharashtra: Shinde braces for impact, BJP watchful, dilemma for Congress
Though not formally united, the coming together of the Thackeray cousins — Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj — after two decades, has the potential to reshape the contours of Maharashtra's political landscape. The two, whose deteriorating relationship led to Raj Thackeray breaking away from the Sena in 2005, shared the stage at a 'victory rally' on Saturday to celebrate the BJP-led Mahayuti government's rollback on the 'Hindi imposition' issue. If the Thackeray brothers forge an alliance, here is the impact it may have on the other major political players. The most immediate and direct impact of the cousins coming together appears to be for the Eknath Shinde camp as it threatens to erode the Deputy CM's claim to the legacy of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and challenges his standing among core Marathi voters. With Bal Thackeray's son and nephew putting up a united front, Shinde is likely to have a tough time shedding the tag of 'outsider' and 'gaddar (traitor)'. He is likely to face a major challenge on his turf — the urban pockets of Maharashtra, especially across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) — as a united Marathi regionalist platform by the brothers will be something he will struggle to match. That the buzz of the alliance has gained momentum just ahead of the civic body polls, including in the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is also seemingly worrying Shinde, as a poor showing could severely dent his influence. Known more for his behind-the-scenes political manoeuvring rather than his public appeal, Shinde may struggle to hold his ground as his cadre, lower-rung leaders, and grassroots workers may drift towards what is now shaping into a resurgent front led by the cousins. Shinde's greatest concern will be the possible erosion of his clout within the ruling alliance. While Shinde has had a strategic relationship with the Maharashtra BJP, many of its leaders view him more as a temporary ally rather than a long-term partner. Moreover, the Uddhav-Raj alliance also threatens to strain his already fragile relationship with the BJP. A day before the Thackerays' rally, the Deputy CM's 'Jai Gujarat' slogan in front of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Pune was viewed as an expression of his anxiety about this possible new front. Shinde has often found himself in the crosshairs of BJP leaders in his bid to expand his party, especially in urban municipalities, at the 'expense of the BJP'. Following the BJP's strong performance in last year's Assembly polls, the tensions have also increased. Many believe that the BJP may now tacitly encourage the Thackerays as a strategic ploy to undercut Shinde ahead of the Assembly elections in 2029. However, Shinde is nothing if not a political survivor who became CM by the dint of his strategic moves, outplaying former mentor Uddhav. He will now place his bets on the internal contradictions between the Thackerays and differences between the BJP's state and central leadership to ensure he is not rendered politically dispensable. Even in his response to the 'victory rally', Shinde targeted Uddhav but stopped shy of attacking Raj. 'One expressed desire for the good of Marathi while the other spewed bile for power … That's the difference,' he said. Having won 132 of the state's 288 seats in the Assembly elections last year, the BJP continues to remain the most dominant political party in Maharashtra. It has a 26.77% vote share, more than double that of the second-placed Congress, which has a vote share of 12.42%. The possible Thackeray alliance could pose a challenge to this dominance by consolidating the Marathi voter base. However, the most immediate challenge lies in the urban and semi-urban segments of the state, where a united Thackeray front could be a hurdle in the civic body polls. Even a slight shift of voters away from the BJP in cities such as Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik could seriously affect the party, which has for long tried to wrest the BMC from the Shiv Sena. A poor showing in the civic polls could create a slippery slope, weakening the BJP's momentum and offering the Thackeray alliance time to consolidate their gains, even though Assembly elections are far away. The BJP also stands at the risk of being outflanked by the Thackerays on the Hindutva agenda as it may find it difficult to counter the combined appeal of Uddhav's 'soft Hindutva' and Raj's 'Marathi pride-laced with Hindutva', a blend that may resonate strongly with core Marathi voters. The BJP has historically maintained a position of considerable political leverage over Raj, with its relationship with the MNS marked by fluctuating proximity. Both sides engaged in a series of informal meetings before the recent flare-up over the language row erupted. Fadnavis, like Shinde, adopted a measured tone when responding to the Saturday rally. 'It was a victory rally for the Marathi language, but Uddhav chose to make it about politics and his removal from power. He's speaking out of frustration, as they have nothing to show despite ruling the BMC for over 25 years. In contrast, we've delivered development to the city and worked relentlessly for the Marathi manoos in Mumbai,' he said. However, in what may be a silver lining, a Thackeray reunion may result in non-Marathi voters rallying behind the BJP, given the visible hostility of the Thackeray alliance towards non-Marathi speakers, especially North Indian migrants. Moreover, if a Thackeray front outperforms Shinde in the civic polls, it could also give the BJP a chance to dominate the Mahayuti at the expense of a weakened Sena, a short-term benefit. The Congress faces a fresh and far more complicated challenge if Raj joins the Opposition fold. So far, the party has maintained a studied silence despite little clarity on whether the MVA would continue in its current form if the Thackeray alliance is formalised. At the heart of the Congress's hesitation lies Raj's anti-migrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric that may severely undermine the Congress's secular positioning, particularly outside Maharashtra, as it will struggle to justify sharing a platform with a party associated with violent street politics and divisive identity politics.
Time of India
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Unlike TN, only against imposition of Hindi in primary schools: Raut
Mumbai: A day after Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin tweeted to back the rally by the Thackeray cousins in Mumbai and said BJP had been forced to retreat for the second time against Hindi imposition in schools, Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday welcomed his support. However, he said his party was not opposed to Hindi, only to its imposition in primary schools. "The southern states have been fighting against Hindi for a long time. They don't speak Hindi. Our stand is different. We have not stopped people from speaking in Hindi, or Hindi films and newspapers. We are only against the imposition of Hindi in primary schools," Raut told reporters. Responding to CM Devendra Fadnavis's jibe referring to Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray as rudaali (weeper) who kept complaining about how deputy CM Eknath Shinde brought down the MVA govt, Raut said, "Fadnavis was scared by the success of the rally. In fact, Fadnavis and Shinde should participate in a rudaali competition and we should organise it." You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai He also criticised Shinde for raising the Jai Gujarat slogan at an event last week in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah, saying he had forgotten Marathi snacks like kaanda poha and batata vada.
