Raj Thackeray warns BJP over Chhath songs row: 'This is Maharashtra, Marathis live here'

Chhath Puja songs played at several railway stations in Mumbai have caused a stir. Reaction to the railway's decision is building in Maharashtra. The Thackeray faction has warned the state government over the matter. The MNS has also entered the row and targeted the state government and the railway. MNS president Raj Thackeray has now written a Facebook post warning the state government. He wrote that this is Maharashtra and Marathis live here. He also told the BJP to think of something else instead of fomenting quarrels in the name of caste and religion.

In his post, Thackeray alleged that the BJP and the "venomous social media" it has nurtured are making every effort to create conflict in Mumbai and Maharashtra over Chhath Puja. According to him, reels about the puja and an alleged cultural invasion are being posted on social media for this purpose. He wrote that when this did not work, Bhojpuri songs were tried at some Mumbai railway stations, and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena got them stopped. According to Thackeray, the BJP is irritated that the conflict it wants is still not materialising. He said the whole effort is for the coming Uttar Pradesh election.

Thackeray wrote that the intellectual capacity of the BJP's think tank appears to have weakened, because the divide-and-rule formula used for years to win elections will no longer work. He alleged that whenever the Lok Sabha election nears, a Hindu-Muslim dispute is stoked and people are frightened by parading burqa-clad women through grounds and gardens. According to him, when state elections draw near, poison is spread among castes. He said that last year, to win the Mumbai municipal corporation election, a Gujarati versus Marathi dispute was stirred up on the pretext of the pigeon feeding spot (kabutarkhana). Thackeray said he has said in earlier speeches that the BJP cannot win elections by showing work, and that once it realises this, it sets two groups against each other and wins elections on the blood they shed. He also wrote that this is only a surface show, that the Election Commission does the real work, but that a reason to spread for the win is found.

He claimed that the Gen Z movement has started the BJP's journey towards losing power from the Centre to the states, and that this will happen soon. According to Thackeray, this is why the BJP and its patrons have become unhinged. He said that once out of power, the ghosts of what has been done in the past 12 to 14 years will settle on their necks, and that this is what they fear.

Thackeray appealed to Marathis that there is no need to fight on the battleground they have laid out, and that it is not Maharashtra's way. He wrote that they may have forgotten the guerrilla strategy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, but "we must remember it". He said whom to answer, when and how will be decided by that strategy, and that Marathis must not fall into the trap set for their selfish ends.

Thackeray further alleged that the BJP has ruined the country and destroyed mutual harmony and tolerance, and that the same is happening in Maharashtra. According to him, on the Centre's orders Maharashtra is being sold to one industrialist and his family and plundered from all sides. He wrote that forests and land are being handed over and the Sahyadri is being hollowed out, yet "we do not care". He said he had not seen a society as unaware as the Marathi one anywhere in the country, one that wakes up when an incident occurs and then calms down and forgets everything in a day or two. In his view, Marathis must not forget all this and should vent their anger at the right time, as only then do they earn the right to take Shivaji's name.

At the end of the post, he wrote that if anyone spreads cultural frenzy in the name of puja, though he does not think anyone would dare, then those plundering Maharashtra and spoiling its cultural heritage should remember that being calm does not mean being cowardly. He told North Indians and the Gujarati community that these people are serving their own interests by setting them against Maharashtrians, and that if they join them and come to attack, they should not forget that this is Maharashtra and Marathis live here.

Thackeray asked the BJP to think of something new instead of provoking religious, inter-state or caste conflicts. He told Marathi brothers and sisters and his Maharashtra Sainiks not to fall into their trap but to stay alert. He wrote that a decision will be taken at the right time.