Overview
- At a Dadar rally ahead of the BMC elections, MNS chief Raj Thackeray used the slogan “Hatao Lungi, Bajao Pungi” while attacking BJP leader K. Annamalai.
- Annamalai had described Bombay as an international city rather than a Maharashtra city, a remark Thackeray framed as a threat to the state’s claim over Mumbai.
- Responding from Tamil Nadu, Annamalai dismissed threats of violence and said he would visit Mumbai, defending his description of the city as world-class.
- Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut called for Annamalai’s arrest over the remark, escalating the political confrontation.
- The slogan dates to Shiv Sena’s 1960s ‘sons of the soil’ campaign against South Indian migrants, and critics warn its revival risks eroding Mumbai’s cosmopolitan character as campaigning intensifies.