Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde.
Credit: X/@mieknathshinde
Mumbai: Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief leader Eknath Shinde found himself at the centre of big political row when he said ‘Jai Gujarat’ in the state’s cultural capital of Pune in the presence of Amit Shah on the eve of the mega victory rally of Thackeray cousins Raj and Uddhav on the issue of Marathi-pride.
While the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi slammed Shinde, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis came to his deputy’s defence.
During his day-long visit in Pune, Shah, the union home and cooperation minister and BJP’s chief strategist, attended a series of events including inauguration of the Jairaj Sports and Convention Centre in the Kondhwa area.
While concluding his speech, Shinde said - ‘Jai Hind’, ‘Jai Maharashtra’, 'Jai Gujarat’ - which immediately triggered a controversy.
"The Gujarati community, which has been a part of Pune's rich tradition for over 100 years, was congratulated for constructing this magnificent building. You dreamed of erecting this building on the land of Pune, and today that dream is taking tangible form. The groundbreaking ceremony of this structure was performed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, and now Amit Bhai Shah has come for the inauguration of this building,” said Shinde.
As soon as Shinde’s ‘Jai Gujarat’ spread like wildfire coinciding with the monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature, he came under severe attack.
Shinde’s aide and state industries minister Uday Samant said: “Only ‘Jai Gujarat’ is being shown (in media and social media)…however, before that he said ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Jai Maharashtra’ which is not being shown.”
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT)’s chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said: “Shinde left the ideas of Balasaheb Thackeray and went to Surat…hence he said Jai Gujarat…if you go to Punjab, you say Jai Punjab…if you go to Gujarat, you say Jai Gujarat….but Shinde is saying this in Maharashtra’s city of Pune.”
Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal sought Shinde's resignation for exhibiting "political slavery" and betraying the state's pride. “Maharashtra is the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who stood for self-respect and sovereignty. It is a matter of shame that a leader occupying the Deputy Chief Minister's chair would chant 'Jai Gujarat' instead of 'Jai Maharashtra'. This is nothing but political slavery,” he said.
NCP (SP) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said, “It is proved today that when Shinde was made CM of Maharashtra, why projects meant for the state kept going to Gujarat. Truth is, he was working for the 'Jai' of Gujarat. Shinde came into power with support of the 'Marathi Manoos', but today, he has betrayed them.”
Amid the criticism of Shinde, Fadnavis said: “Just because Shinde said ‘Jai Gujarat’, it doesn’t mean that Shinde loves Gujarat more than Maharashtra. Such parochial thinking doesn’t behove Marathi people."
Fadnavis went on to recall that when a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was unveiled at Chikodi in Karnataka, NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar had said 'Jai Maharashtra, Jai Karnataka.'
“Does this mean that Sharad Pawar loves Karnataka more and Maharashtra less,” he asked.
Investor Kedia ruffles feathers
In a related development, Kedionomics founder and investor Sushil Kedia ruffled many feathers, when daring Raj, he took to X, and wrote: “I don’t know Marathi properly even after living for 30 years in Mumbai & with your gross misconduct I have made it a resolve that until such people as you are allowed to pretend to be taking care of Marathi manoos, I take pratigya I won’t learn Marathi. kya karna hai bol?.”
This development comes after incidents this week in the Thane City and Mira-Bhayander suburbs. Reacting to the development, Raut said: “It is because of people like Shah and Shinde that such people could speak like this.”
“By threatening me by 100s of your workers is not going to make me a fluent Marathi speaker. If I am not confident of the quality of Marathi I can speak, with so much threatening around even more fear happens that if I miss speaking any word(s) improperly more violence will happen. Get the point. Love, not threat makes people get assimilated together,” Kedia said tagging Raj.
MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande said: “Do business if you're a businessman, don't try to act like our father. If you insult Marathi in Maharashtra, you'll get a slap on the ear.”
Later, Kedia also tagged Fadnavis, Shah and Mumbai Police chief seeking protection. I am being called from several police stations such as Amboli, Cyber Crime Bandra, SB1 etc etc all offering me protection and in that pretext asking my location. This is a dirty operation already on baying for my blood,” he said.