Bhojpuri songs at train stations Raj accuses BJP of inciting conflict in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Nov 13 (PTI) MNS president Raj Thackeray on Friday accused the BJP of making desperate attempts to incite conflict in Mumbai, which has a sizeable North Indian population, and Maharashtra by exploiting the Chhath Puja issue ahead of the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.

    His remarks come two days after a controversy erupted over playing Bhojpuri songs at some Mumbai railway stations ahead of the festival. The move drew criticism and raised questions over the use of railway announcement systems for cultural events.

    The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief said no attempts should be made to incite a “cultural frenzy” under the guise of religious worship to “plunder” Maharashtra and tarnish its cultural heritage. He said that the state’s restraint should not be mistaken for cowardice.

    “The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the toxic social media ecosystem it nurtures are currently making desperate attempts to incite conflict in Mumbai, Maharashtra, by exploiting the issue of Chhath Puja,” he said in a post on X.

    The BJP remains frustrated because the conflict it so desired has failed to materialise, he said.

    “All this frantic manoeuvring is being orchestrated with an eye on the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh,” Thackeray said. The UP assembly elections are expected to be held early next year.

    “To this end, they are circulating reels on social media depicting the rituals and what they frame as a ‘cultural invasion’ stemming from them. As if that weren’t enough, they even attempted to play Bhojpuri music at certain railway stations in Mumbai, which the MNS promptly shut down anyway,” he said.

    Thackeray said the North Indian and Gujarati communities must also realise that the BJP is merely pitting them against locals to serve its selfish interests. “If the North Indian and Gujarati communities choose to join them and confront the Marathi manoos, then let them be advised: This is Maharashtra! This is the land of the Marathas!” he said.

    Targeting the BJP, Thackeray said the saffron party’s ‘think tank’ has suffered a decline in its intellectual capacity. The “divide and rule” tactic on which it relied for years to win elections is no longer effective, he said.

    Whenever Lok Sabha elections approach, the BJP stokes Hindu-Muslim tensions, parades women wearing burqas through public grounds and parks, aiming to frighten the public by suggesting that “the other” has now encroached upon their own spaces, he alleged.

    Last year, in a bid to win the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, it manufactured a “Gujarati versus Marathi” conflict, centred around the issue of feeding pigeons (at ‘kabutarkhanas’), said Thackeray.

    “The BJP cannot win elections based on its actual performance; instead, it engineers conflicts between groups and secures victories on the back of the blood spilled in those clashes.

    “Of course, this is largely a superficial spectacle, as the real work is done by the Election Commission. But it provides them with a convenient narrative to explain how they achieved their victory,” he said. The Opposition has accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of facilitating alleged manipulation of electoral rolls to benefit the BJP.

    Spurred by the ‘Gen Z’ movement, the journey towards ousting the BJP from power, both at the Centre and in the states, has begun, claimed Thackeray, stressing that “it is bound to happen soon”.

    This has left the BJP and its mentors completely rattled, he said. They fear that once out of power, the ghosts of everything they have done over the last 12 to 14 years will come back to haunt them, said the MNS chief.

    “I urge the Marathi people: there is no need for us to fight on the battlefield of their choosing. That is not the ‘Maharashtra way’. They may have forgotten Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s guerrilla warfare tactics, but we must remember it. We shall decide how and when to respond using these tactics. We must not fall into the traps they have laid for their own selfish ends,” Thackeray said.

    He further accused the BJP of ruining the nation, destroying its social harmony and tolerance that once existed. The same is happening in Maharashtra, he said.

    Acting on directives from the Centre, the party is effectively selling off Maharashtra piece by piece to a single industrialist and his cronies, stripping the state bare from every direction, he claimed.

    Thackeray said the ruling party had even begun to hollow out the Sahyadri mountain range, referring to the upcoming hydropower projects in the area.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)