Mumbai: during a veiled attack on the BJP, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said the language of intimidation won’t be tolerated and a befitting reply are going to be given to those speaking it.
He made the statement after BJP legislator Prasad Lad’s reported remarks that if needed, the Shiv Sena Bhavan, headquarters of the party in central Mumbai, would be demolished. However, he later retracted the remarks and expressed regret, saying they were presented out of context by the media.
Speaking at the inauguration of a redevelopment project, Mr Thackeray mentioned his three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation as a “triple seat” government (with NCP and Congress being the opposite constituents).
Recalling a dialogue from Hindi blockbuster “Dabangg” – “Thappad se dar nahi lagta (not frightened of being slapped)” — the Chief Minister said, “Nobody should speak the language of slapping us as we’ll refund such a decent slap that the opposite person won’t be ready to revisit on his feet.”
Asking the beneficiaries of the chawls redevelopment project to not fall prey to allurement once the project gets over, he said, “Marathi culture must be protected within the redeveloped constructions at any cost because the chawls had a historic legacy, where revolutionaries had laid down their lives and also were witness to the Samyukta Maharashtra movement.”
NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who was also present at the event, said the legacy of BDD Chawls should be protected and therefore the Marathi-speaking people must stay back within the redeveloped houses, which might tend as a part of the project being overseen by Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).
He also praised Mr Thackeray for efficient handling of the COVID-19 situation and therefore the recent floods in several parts of the state caused by torrential rain.
State Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said that despite natural calamities, the MVA government had not allowed development work to suffer or stall.