Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar took a sharp dig at the joint rally of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, calling it a pre-election “public appeasement stunt” rather than a genuine move to protect Marathi language interests.
The rally, held at Worli Dome in Mumbai, marked the first time in two decades that the two estranged Thackeray cousins shared a stage, reportedly uniting against the Maharashtra government’s now-scrapped move to make Hindi a mandatory third language in schools.
However, Shelar dismissed the unity as political theatre.
“This isn’t about language… It’s a public appeasement campaign for elections,” he said in a post on X, mocking Uddhav Thackeray’s party as “Ubatha Sena” and suggesting the show of unity was triggered by panic over upcoming BMC elections.
Shelar further stated: “Today’s so-called family get-together in Worli was for the very brother they once threw out of the house. There is no real love for language involved here… They’ve never truly cared for it anyway. This is a desperate scramble to regain power in Mumbai.”
He accused the Thackeray-led alliance of trying to exploit emotional narratives to mask their alleged governance failures and prevent political downfall.
Earlier in the day, Uddhav Thackeray addressed the rally saying, “We have come together to stay together,” emphasizing unity with Raj and criticizing the Centre for pushing businesses and key offices from Mumbai to Gujarat, allegedly to “break Maharashtra’s backbone.”
Raj Thackeray also took a veiled swipe at CM Devendra Fadnavis, stating ironically that the Chief Minister achieved what Balasaheb Thackeray could not — bringing the brothers together.
Despite the symbolism of their reunion and show of Marathi pride, BJP has framed the joint rally as a calculated electoral move rather than a cultural stand.