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The Print
27-07-2025
- Politics
- The Print
A hug, a photo, a signal? Raj & Uddhav meet again, this time at Matoshree on ex-CM's birthday
The meeting of the two leaders, estranged till recently, at the Thackeray abode comes in the backdrop of talks of a possible union between the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the MNS for the upcoming local body polls. It was Uddhav's 65th birthday and Raj landed at the Thackeray residence Matoshree in Mumbai, his first visit of note since 2012 when he had called on his ailing uncle Bal Thackeray in his last days. Raj had also visited Matoshree to invite Uddhav and his family to his son Amit's wedding in 2019, but it was a brief visit. Mumbai: On Sunday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray sprang a surprise on his cousin Uddhav Thackeray, as well as the public and politicians at large. Raj and Uddhav also held a victory rally earlier this month on 5 July to celebrate the Maharashtra government's rollback of two resolutions making Hindi the 'default' third language in government schools across the state. It was the first time the cousins had shared a stage politically after Raj broke away from the then undivided Shiv Sena in 2005. On Sunday, Raj was accompanied by party leader Bala Nandgaonkar. He presented Uddhav with a bouquet of flowers and hugged him, all while posing for the cameras. Party workers couldn't contain their excitement on seeing both Thackerays together again. Reacting to the birthday surprise, Uddhav told reporters, 'I am very, very happy and delighted.' Later, the two went inside and held a closed-door meeting for nearly 20 minutes. Raj also shared on X a picture of him and Uddhav posing in front of a portrait of Bal Thackeray, Shiv Sena founder. 'This is a hopeful and happy day for all of us,' Shiv Sena UBT MLA Bhaskar Jadhav told the media following the meeting. He added that whether the union of parties will take place or not would be discussed in a serious setting, not informally. Since their victory rally earlier this month, Uddhav has on multiple occasions said the cousins have come together to stay together. But Raj has stayed away from commenting on the possible alliance so far. His move Sunday is thus seen as significant. Speaking to the media in Nagpur, CM Devendra Fadnavis said Sunday, 'This is a good thing that Raj Thackeray went to wish Uddhav Thackeray on his birthday. What is the politics in this? Even we have given him best wishes.' This is an updated version of the report` (Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui) Also Read: 5 reasons Thackeray cousins Raj, Uddhav may bury hatchet, rally behind 'Marathi manoos' plank
India Today
08-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Don't interact with media: Raj Thackeray's diktat to party leaders amid Marathi row
Amid the ongoing political row over the Hindi-Marathi language war in Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray has issued a diktat to his party workers and other office bearers not to speak to the media or share any post related to the matter on social also asked the spokespersons of his party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), to obtain his permission before speaking to the clear instruction. No one from the party should interact with newspapers, news channels, or any digital media. Likewise, absolutely do not post videos of your reactions on social media. And those spokespersons officially assigned the responsibility of interacting with the media should also not engage with any form of media without consulting me or obtaining my permission, nor should they express themselves on social media," Thackeray wrote in Marathi on X (formerly Twitter). This came as a political tussle is underway between MNS and the Mahayuti government, led by the BJP, over the former's mega push for Marathi language usage among people living in the Raj Thackeray and the MNS received a lot of flak after videos of his party workers forcing a north Indian shopkeeper to speak Marathi and thrashing him for his inability to do so went the backlash over the shopkeeper's assault, Raj Thackeray asked his party workers to "beat them but don't record videos".The incident sparked a major political slugfest in the state and across the country, with several leaders condemning the act, and demanding action. However, the MNS defended the action, saying, "If anyone insults the Marathi language, MNS will respond in this manner".- EndsTrending Reel
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
‘Was told not to, but I did'': Abused by MNS leader's drunk son, Mumbai influencer Rajshree More files new FIR; says language politics breaking nation
MUMBAI: In a fresh twist to the escalating language row in Maharashtra, social media influencer and entrepreneur Rajshree More on Wednesday filed a fresh FIR at the Amboli police station, citing threats she has received over the last two days — allegedly not just from anonymous sources online, but also from within the film industry. This comes a day after a viral video showed More being abused and threatened by Rahil Javed Shaikh, the son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Javed Shaikh. Rahil, allegedly in a drunken state, had rammed his car twice into More's vehicle and hurled abuses while invoking his father's political clout. Accompanied by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Nirupam, More said she approached the police again after being continuously threatened for two days. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai "I am receiving threats. I am being told 'laaton ke bhoot, baaton se nahi maante'. I am being warned to keep my mouth shut. I am not afraid at all. I wasn't afraid that night too when I went to the police station alone and filed FIR. I was being convinced that please don't file FIR against our son, we beg you. However, I didn't listen to them," news agency PTI quoted Rajshree as saying. She condemned the weaponisation of language politics in the state. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 월 1만원으로 저소득 아이들의 한끼 선물하기 굿네이버스 더 알아보기 Undo 'We respect the Marathi language. It is my language too. But that does not mean it must be forced on others. Now our Hindustani identity is being broken into pieces. Politics over language is dividing the country.' Calling for legal intervention, she added: "Political parties that survive by pitting people against each other in the name of language and vote-bank politics must be stopped. This is how the powerful try to crush the weak in Maharashtra.' She alleged that she was being punished for defending the rights of migrant workers. 'I spoke up for those who come here and work hard. For that, I am being targeted. Despite being Marathi myself, I was called a traitor — 'Vibhishan' — by people claiming to represent Marathi pride.' (With agency inputs)
India Today
08-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
MNS leader's son quizzed for 6 hours, says he consumed alcohol before joyride
The son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Javed Shaikh, Rahil, who got into a tiff with Mumbai-based influencer Rajshree More after hitting her car in a drunken state, has admitted to drinking heavily at a friend's house on Sunday before his mother called and asked him to come home, Mumbai Police sources told India Today a drunken state, he hit Rajshree's car in Mumbai's Lokhandwala and then misbehaved with her. Rahil, a resident of Thane, was questioned for six hours, during which his father was present, the sources filed a complaint with the Amboli police and demanded strict action against Rahil. She said that she felt threatened during the incident. A close friend of Rakhi Sawant, Rajshree, made headlinesfew weeks back after she posted a video on social media where she made contentious comments about the local Maharashtrian the video, she questioned the efforts to enforce the Marathi language on the state's residents and argued that local Marathi people should instead be motivated to work also warned that Mumbai's local Marathi community's condition could worsen if migrants left the SENA LEADER CONDEMNS INCIDENTAfter the matter came to light, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) leader Sanjay Nirupam condemned the incident and slammed Rahil for his indecent behaviour with a woman."MNS leader Javed Shaikh's son has misbehaved with a woman. He rammed his car into hers and was drunk. What kind of Muslim is he who consumes alcohol? When the woman resisted, he abused her and flaunted his father's position," Nirupam said in a video message on added that the MNS is resorting to hooliganism in the name of Marathi. "They don't care about Marathi language or it's cultural pride. If they did, they wouldn't have misbehaved with Rajshri More".Nirpuam also questioned as to why only Hindus are attacked by MNS workers. He dared them to try and attack Urdu-speaking people in the name of Sena leader claimed that the MNS is running a campaign against Hindus at the behest of its Muslim leaders like Javed requested the state government to take MNS "goons" to task and ensure the safety and security of the people belonging to all sections of society in the state.- Ends
Indian Express
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Explained: Emergency and its lessons
The Emergency was imposed exactly 50 years ago on June 25, 1975. The 21-month period, one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Indian republic, saw the suspension of civil liberties, curtailment of press freedom, mass arrests, the cancellation of elections, and rule by decree. Here's a brief history. Indira Gandhi rode to power on an electoral landslide in 1971, but her government was rocked by crisis after crisis. Expenses incurred during the 1971 India-Pak war, droughts, and the 1973 oil crisis buffeted the Indian economy, causing hardship for the people. Corruption, misgovernance, and state excesses sowed further discontent. In February 1974, the Navnirman (Regeneration) students movement forced Congress Chief Minister Chimanbhai Patel to resign over corruption allegations. This inspired a students' movement in Bihar which saw socialists and right wing organisations coming together to form the Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti. Jayaprakash Narayan, a Gandhian and hero of the Quit India Movement, eventually took the reins of this movement. His call for 'sampoorna kranti (total revolution)', first made on June 5 at Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan, brought Bihar to a standstill. Earlier, in May 1974, socialist leader George Fernandes had led an unprecedented strike of railway workers that paralysed the Indian Railways for three weeks. Over the course of 1974 and early 1975, the JP Movement reverberated across the country. JP himself toured the country, much like Mahatma Gandhi during the Independence Movement, and channeled popular discontent against Indira. 'Sinhasan khaali karo, ke janata aati hai (Vacate the throne, for the people are coming),' was JP's rallying call during his rallies. On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha of Allahabad High Court convicted Indira of electoral malpractice and struck down her election to Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli. As demands for her resignation grew louder, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed the Proclamation of Emergency late on the night of June 25. Electricity to newspaper offices was cut off, and people were informed of the Proclamation by Indira herself, through an address broadcast on All India Radio at 8 am on June 26. The Emergency, which lasted until March 21, 1977, saw the Indira's government use special provisions in the Constitution to impose sweeping executive and legislative consequences on the country. 🔴 The federal structure was converted into a de facto unitary one. State governments were not suspended, but they were effectively brought entirely under the Centre's control. Parliament made laws on subjects in the State List, and the President, with parliamentary approval, modified constitutional provisions on the allocation of financial resources between the Union and states. 🔴 Almost all opposition leaders, including JP, were imprisoned. Roughly 1.12 lakh people were detained under draconian laws like the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA), and Defence of India act and Defence of India rules (DISIR). 🔴 With the Opposition in jail, Parliament passed a slew of Constitutional Amendments. The 42nd Amendment of 1976 took away the judiciary's right to hear election petitions, widened the authority of the Union to encroach on State subjects, gave Parliament unbridled power to amend the Constitution, and made laws passed by Parliament to implement directive principles of state policy immune to judicial review. 🔴 Fundamental rights, including the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a), were curtailed. Newspapers were subjected to pre-censorship. More than 250 journalists, including Kuldip Nayar of The Indian Express, were jailed. While most newspapers bent, some like The Indian Express resisted the Emergency, fought the regulations in court, and published blank spaces on their pages instead of pre-censored stories. As this newspaper's former proprietor Ramnath Goenka once said: 'The hard fact is that if we went on publishing, The Indian Express may be called a paper, but cannot be a newspaper'. 🔴 On the pretext of addressing the issues that ailed India, Indira's son Sanjay Gandhi pushed a 'five-point programme', which included family planning and clearance of slums. In April 1976, bulldozers moved to clear the slums near Turkman Gate in Delhi — as locals protested, police opened fire and killed many. Family planning targets, especially in North India, led to forced sterilisations. Government officials were forced to submit to the surgeon's knife before arrears of pay were cleared. Truck drivers could not have their licences renewed without a sterilisation certificate. Sometimes, people were simply picked up from their homes or the streets to meet sterilisation targets. During one such drive on October 18, 1976, police fired on people protesting forced sterilisations in Muzaffarnagar, UP, killing at least 50. 🔴 In 1976, the year Lok Sabha elections were set to be held, Parliament extended its term by a year. For no apparent reason, Indira decided to lift the Emergency early in 1977. Some say she was convinced she would win the next election; others believe better sense prevailed. As it happened, Indira and her party were routed in the election of 1977. The Janata Party — the product of the merger of the Jana Sangh, Congress (O), the socialists and Bharatiya Lok Dal — came to power, and Morarji Desai became India's first non-Congress PM. Many Constitutional changes effected during the Emergency were reversed. While the provision itself was retained, the Janata government made it very difficult for a future PM to repeat Indira's actions. Judicial review of a Proclamation of Emergency was made possible again, and it was made mandatory for such a Proclamation to be passed in both Houses of Parliament by a special majority — a majority of the total strength of the House and not less than two-thirds of members present and voting — within a month. The 44th Amendment replaced the words 'internal disturbance' as a ground for the imposition of Emergency with 'armed rebellion'. The post-Emergency Parliament saw the coming together of the social forces behind the Jana Sangh and the socialists — the Hindutva upper castes, and the Lohiaite agrarian and artisanal castes. The Janata government appointed the Mandal Commission to look into OBC quotas, which eventually propelled the rise of the OBCs in North India. The Emergency also gave India a crop of young leaders who would dominate politics for several decades — Lalu Prasad Yadav, George Fernandes, Arun Jaitley, Ram Vilas Paswan, and many others. Most importantly, the Emergency marked the beginning of the end of the Congress' one-party hold over the country. While the collapse of the Janata experiment in 1979 demonstrated the limits of anti-Congressism at the time, the Emergency set in motion political forces and processes, which in many ways culminated with the decimation of the Congress in 2014. Vikas Pathak is deputy associate editor with The Indian Express and writes on national politics. He has over 17 years of experience, and has worked earlier with The Hindustan Times and The Hindu, among other publications. He has covered the national BJP, some key central ministries and Parliament for years, and has covered the 2009 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and many state assembly polls. He has interviewed many Union ministers and Chief Ministers. Vikas has taught as a full-time faculty member at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; Symbiosis International University, Pune; Jio Institute, Navi Mumbai; and as a guest professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. Vikas has authored a book, Contesting Nationalisms: Hinduism, Secularism and Untouchability in Colonial Punjab (Primus, 2018), which has been widely reviewed by top academic journals and leading newspapers. He did his PhD, M Phil and MA from JNU, New Delhi, was Student of the Year (2005-06) at ACJ and gold medalist from University Rajasthan College in Jaipur in graduation. He has been invited to top academic institutions like JNU, St Stephen's College, Delhi, and IIT Delhi as a guest speaker/panellist. ... Read More
