Supporters of Raj Thackeray vandalised a dance bar in Panvel near Mumbai on Saturday night, a day after the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief made a provocative speech against such institutions.
According to reports, over a dozen MNS workers armed with sticks stormed the Night Riders bar and inflicted heavy damage to the property. Police said the mob damaged furniture and smashed liquor bottles.
Thackeray, who recently joined hands with his cousin Uddhav Thackeray over the Marathi language row, had issued a veiled threat to dance bars in the state in his speech on Friday.
Addressing a Kisan Mazdoor Party meeting in Panvel, Thackeray said Raigad was the capital of Emperor Shivaji Maharaj and dance bars should not operate there.
"Raigad district has the most dance bars. They were closed, right? So many dance bars in Raigad, who owns them? Only Marathi people? So, if you are being evicted from here, then you are being trapped by making you habituated to dance bars. This is our Raigad. Raigad was the capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj," he was quoted as saying by reports.
Thackeray further alleged that many of these dance bars were being run by non-Marathis with tacit support from the Devendra Fadnavis government.
Earlier this week, the Congress-led opposition had attacked Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde after a dance bar was found to be operated under a licence held by his party colleague and Minister of State (Home) Yogesh Kadam’s mother.
"How can Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde justify supporting a dance bar? For someone who claims to uphold the ideals of Hindutva, in which version of Hindutva does making girls dance in bars find a place?" asked Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal.