"If You Have Courage...": Nishikant Dubey To Raj Thackeray In Marathi Row
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Nishikant Dubey on Monday waded into the Marathi vs Hindi row that has roiled Maharashtra politics - particularly before the critical Mumbai civic body polls this year - and took aim at Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, challenging him to visit other states, such as Uttar Pradesh or Tamil Nadu, to beat up people who speak Urdu or Tamil.
The Lok Sabha MP's fierce attack - "tumhe patak-patak ke maarenge (you will get thrashed black and blue)" - he thundered at Raj Thackeray, comes after goons from the MNS have assaulted - with impunity so far - at least three people over the past week for not speaking Marathi.
"If you are courageous enough (to) beat those who speak Hindi (in Maharashtra) ... then beat those who speak Urdu or Tamil. If you are such a big 'boss', come out of Maharashtra... come to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu - 'tumko patak patak ke maarenge'..." he told news agency ANI.
#WATCH | Guwahati, Assam | On Raj Thackeray's remark 'beat but don't make a video', BJP MP Nishikant Dubey says, "...You people are surviving on our money. What kind of industries do you have?... If you are courageous enough and beat those who speak Hindi, then you should beat… pic.twitter.com/gRvAjtD0iW
— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2025
"Come to Bihar..." Dubey challenged Raj Thackeray, criticising the MNS chief and his cousin, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray for theatrics - the 'victory rally' in Mumbai on Saturday - before the election. "BMC election is due, so Raj and Uddhav are doing cheap politics..."
The BJP leader also claimed that much of the wealth generated by Mumbai-based conglomerates, such as the Tatas and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited, actually comes from outside the state, and specifically from Hindi-speaking states like Jharkhand.
"You are saying people will have to speak Marathi? But whose bread are you eating? There is Tata, Birla, and Reliance in Maharashtra, yes, but they are not unique there... Tata established its factory here (in Bihar) ... you people are surviving on our money..." Dubey raged.
"You have no industries in your state. You do not generate much tax. States like Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha have mines. What do you have?"
Dubey's criticism follows Raj Thackeray's shocking 'advice' to his party workers - that they should assault people not speaking in Marathi but not record the attack. The 'advice' was in reference to seven MNS goons attacking a shopkeeper in Mumbai's Mira Road suburb.
The attackers filmed the assault and posted it online, leading to widespread outrage but very little concrete action from the police, who only 'questioned' the thugs and then let them leave.
The incident - and others in Thane and Pune - led to a political row.
The Thackeray cousins - estranged for two decades - found common ground in their quest to battle 'Hindi imposition'. The two have claimed credit for forcing the state's ruling Mahayuti alliance, led by the BJP, to rollback two orders making Hindi the default language for primary school students. To celebrate that the cousins shared the stage at the rally, where Uddhav Thackeray announced his Sena and the MNS will contest the Mumbai civic polls together.
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