A few days after Raj Thackeray’s decision to support the Modi government over the eviction of illegal Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, posters threatening Bangladeshi emerged in Raigad district’s Panvel area.
The posters said: “Bangladeshis leave the country, or you will be driven out MNS style.” The posters had Raj Thackeray’s picture along with his son Amit.
A week later, he had voiced decent against the CAA but said he supported the NRC to ‘flush out illegal immigrants’.
On January 23 – which is Bal Thackeray’s birth anniversary – Raj Thackeray unveiled his party’s new flag which was saffron in colour and bore the royal sea used by Shivaji Maharaj. Thackeray, while unveiling the flag, had announced a march seeking eviction of illegal migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1224500666925608960When Thackeray had launched his party in 2006, the party’s flag was saffron, blue and green, which was to indicate MNS’ support for Hindus, Dalits and Muslims.
Observers had noted that the removal of blue and green from the flag and the domination of saffron in the new flag is an indication that MNS may adopt a more aggressive Hindutva stand and form an alliance with BJP in Maharashtra.
Thackeray's timing to go saffron comes when Shiv Sena, which joined hands with NCP and Congress to form government in the state, is no longer an ardent advocate of Hindutva. Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi in the common minimum programme has clearly said that it is committed to uphold the secular values enshrined in the Constitution of India.
The Shiv Sena, from which Raj carved out his own party, is known for its Hindutva ideology. But the Uddhav Thackeray-led party did a radical about-turn last year when it ditched the BJP and formed government in Maharashtra with the Congress and the NCP.
In a veiled dig at Uddhav, his estranged cousin, Raj had said, "I don't change the colour of my party to form the government."
