MNS workers target Gujarati signboards
AFTER RAJ RALLY In his speech, MNS chief objected to billboards not written in Marathi MUMBAI:
We just followed our leader’s orders. As per rules, all signboards should be in Marathi, but to attract customers, hotel owners had put up boards in Gujarati. We will not tolerate violation of rules. KUNDAN SANKHE, MNS leader
Workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), returning to Boisar after attending Raj Thackeray’s Gudi Padwa rally on Sunday night, vandalised signboards of at least six hotels in Vasai, along on Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway 8, as they were in Gujarati.
The incident took place at Sativali, around 47km from Mumbai.
The Waliv police were in the process of registering a First Information Report on Monday morning; no arrests have been made so far.
In his speech at Shivaji Park, Thackeray had objected to Gujarati signboards posted outside hotels on highways. “We decided to remove signboards written in Gujarati,” said Kundan Sankhe, MNS leader from Boisar.
“We just followed our leader’s orders. As per rules, all signboards should be in Marathi, but to attract Gujarati and Rajasthani customers, hotel owners had put up boards in Gujarati. We will not tolerate such gross violation of rules,” he added.
Sankhe claims the local MNS unit has raised the issue previously with the local police, Vasai civic authorities, and also asked the hotel owners to remove the signboards. “They did not listen to us, so we had to take MNS-style steps,” he added.
Roshan Rajtilak, additional superintendent of police, Vasai, said: “The Waliv police will register cases for rioting and mischief under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and arrest the culprits The hotel owners have complained that their signboards were torn and vandalised.”
The Vasai police control room confirmed the incident, but said no offence had been registered so far.
Addressing party workers at a rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on Saturday, Thackeray said, “The country is fed up with the false promises made by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and his government.”
“All opposition parties should come together to get rid of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to ensure a ‘Modi-mukt Bharat’,” he said, while reminding the audience of the BJP’s ‘Congressmukt Bharat’ slogan.
In July last year, some workers of the MNS had protested against a jewellery shop in Dadar and a hotel in the Mahim area of Mumbai, asking them to remove the signboards in Gujarati, the police had then said.