Raj Thackeray

Trivia

• On 2nd October 2009, MNS workers disrupted the screening of the film Wake Up Sid on its release, in a few Pune and Mumbai theatres. A rabble-rousing Raj Thackeray objected to the city being referred to as 'Bombay' instead of Mumbai. The film's producer, Karan Johar, rushed to Raj's residence, profusely apologised and agreed to all of Raj's terms including an apology on each of the 700 frames in the film.
• After Jaya Bachchan, Rajya Sabha MP, stated at a Hindi film function that she would be speaking in Hindi since she was from North India, Raj Thackeray threatened to ban all Bachchan films unless Jaya apologised in a public forum for "insulting" Maharashtrians. MNS workers began to attack theatres screening The Last Lear starring Hindi cinema legend, Amitabh Bachchan. It was only after Amitabh also tendered an apology that screening resumed.
• On 21 July 2005 a five acre plot of land, Kohinoor Mill No. 3, located across the road from the Shiv Sena party headquarters, Sena Bhavan, in Dadar, Mumbai, was purchased by Raj and Unmesh Joshi (son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister and former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi) for a whopping Rs 421 crore. The NCP leader from Mumbai, Sachin Ahir, then objected to the sale of the Kohinoor Mill land, saying that there were forty bids, yet only three were short-listed. He demanded a re-bid as the
• In July 1996, Ramesh Kini was found dead in a cinema theatre in Pune. Kini was a tenant in a ramshackle tenement in central Mumbai, whose landlord, Laxmikant Shah, was trying to get him out of the house. Shah also happened to be a close childhood friend of Raj Thackeray. Raj and his men allegedly killed Ramesh in order to vacate the house. A CBI enquiry was later issued for the case, but the CBI dismissed the case as one of suicide.
• In February 2008 Raj Thackeray led MNS in an andolan (minor uprising/ protest) against the supposed dominance of migrants from North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the commercial capital of Mumbai. At a rally in Shivaji Park, Raj warned that if the dadagiri (intimidating dominance) of these people in Mumbai and Maharashtra continued, he would be compelled to make them leave the metropolis.Raj was arrested along with a SP leader for their involvement in the fracas, but was released o
• In the October 2009 Assembly Elections, his MNS won 13 seats out of the 145 it contested to the 288 seat Maharashtra Assembly. Thackeray's hopes of playing a pivotal role in the formation of the next state government were dashed as the ruling Congress led coalition crossed the half-way mark.
• On 9 March 2006, Raj Thackeray formed the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) after claiming to have been 'sidelined' by Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav.Shiv Sainiks (Shiv Sena members) who supported Raj’s leadership over that of his cousin Uddhav (Bal Thackeray's son), joined the MNS. The party was founded on the pseudo-ideology of being the benefactor of the local Marathi population (Marathi Manoos).
• He criticized new urban developments on Pune's various hillocks in support of environment.In 2003, Raj Thackeray pledged to plant 76 lakh trees across Maharashtra, a project that started, but was never completed.
• In 1996, with the objective of raising funds for the organisation, he organised a Michael Jackson concert for the first time in India at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai.
• Raj Thackeray started his political career with his uncle's (Bal Thackeray) Shiv Sena party in Maharashtra.On 14 June 1996, as an employment generation initiative in Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray formed the Shiv Udyog Sena.One of its objectives was to give self-employment loans to unemployed Marathi youth.

Quotes

• “Even if the whole world opposes my stand, I and my party will continue the struggle to protect Marathi culture, Maharashtrian people, and will trample the goondaism of U.P. and Bihar."
• "In my college days, I wanted to work with Walt Disney Studios. I drew cartoons even before my foray in politics. Film making is also a passion. I would have been doing either of these things."