MNS chief Raj Thackeray triggered a controversy on Sunday when he used the slur ‘Hatao lungi, bajao pungi' at BJP leader K Annamalai, for the latter’s statement that Bombay was not a city of Maharashtra but an international city”. Raj’s use of the controversial and xenophobic slogan that was used in the 1960s by Shiv Sena, has invited flak from many quarters ahead of the BMC elections.
During campaigning in the western suburbs, Annamalai said, “Bombay is not a city of Maharashtra. It is an international city.” The remark triggered a controversy with both factions of Shiv Sena, taking it up, urging the BJP to clarify its stand. But, Raj Thackeray took it one step ahead and lashed out at Annamalai, even calling him ‘Rasmalai’.
Origin of the slogan
The Shiv Sena, which openly championed Marathi dignity, coined the slur targeting the South Indians in the 1960s and 70s. Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray was strongly opposed to the presence of South Indians in Mumbai, so much so that he would publish the names of South Indian workers in his publications. Shiv Sena’s campaign was on the alleged grounds that the South Indians were stealing the jobs of the Marathi people in their own states.
Shiv Sainiks would protest the screening of Tamil films and vandalise restaurants. To visually and culturally mark the “outsiders” and mass mobilise Marathi votes, Thackeray started using the slur "Hatao Lungi Bajao Pungi" not as a formal policy but as a provocative slogan. This campaign eventually helped Bal Thackeray emerge as a prominent leader of the Marathi community.
However, by the mid-1970s, Shiv Sena’s South Indian issue lost salience, and the party slowly shifted its focus to anti-communism, anti-Muslim rhetoric, and openly projected a Hindutva stance. It stopped targeting South Indians as they needed a wider political alliance. So much so that Adithya Thackeray, grandson of Bal Thackeray himself, appeared in a Lungi during the Assembly election campaign in 2022.
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However, the slogan remains a potent symbol of Mumbai’s nativist political roots, which Raj Thackeray has weaponised now.
Annamalai responds
Annamalai hit back at Raj Thackeray on Monday against the personal attacks. "Who are Aditya Thackeray and Raj Thackeray to threaten me?" Annamalai said.
"If I say Kamaraj is one of India's greatest leaders, does that mean he is no longer a Tamil? If I say Mumbai is a world-class city, does that mean Maharashtrians didn't build it?" Annamalai asked.
