With his remark on Mumbai sparking a political storm, providing a handle to the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a defiant IPS-turned BJP leader K Annamalai on Monday threw the gauntlet at the Thackerays daring them to touch him when he visits the city shortly next time.
“No one can prevent me from coming to Mumbai. I am a son of a farmer and I can’t be intimidated. I will come to Mumbai. I am definitely coming. You can’t even touch me. If you could attempt to cut my leg. Had I been afraid of such threats I would have never stepped out of Coimbatore,” an unapologetic Annamalai told the media at the Chennai airport.
“I have grown to a great extent that people like Udhav Thackeray Raj Thackeray are issuing threats at a public meeting organised to target me. Some people, who have no work there, are holding out threats to me and trying to intimidate me,” he said, asking, “Who are the Thackerays to threaten me?”
“My parents are engaged in rearing sheep. They are holding public meetings to target the sons of those who herd cattle,” he quipped.
“If I say Kamaraj (Congress stalwart and late chief minister whose rule is considered the golden era of Tamil Nadu) is one of India’s greatest leaders, does it mean he is no longer a Tamil? Likewise, if I say Mumbai is a world-class city, does it mean Maharashtrrians didn’t build it?” he asked, adding, “These people are ignorant.”
The raging controversy over the BJP leader from Tamil Nadu was the fallout of his statement made during his campaign for the saffron party in the BMC elections, slated for January 15. “Narendra (Modi) Ji at the Centre, Devendra (Fadnavis) Ji at the State and BJP Mayor in the BMC… because Bombay is not a Maharashtra city but an international city,” he had said at his campaign in the Western suburbs of the city which has a considerable Tamil population. His call for a triple-engine circar, was seen as decoupling Mumbai from the rest of Maharashtra and his use of Bombay instead of Mumbai also appeared unpalatable to parties wedded to identity politics.
It provoked the Marathi Manoos and the Udhav faction of the Sena and at a joint rally of the UBT Sena and the MNS, Raj Thackeray directly targeted Annamalai, caricaturing him as a rasmalai. “One ‘rasamalai’ came from Tamil Nadu and asked what is the connection between Mumbai and Maharashtra. What is your connection here? That’s why Balasaheb Thackeray coined the slogan ‘hatao lungi bajao pungi’, which targeted the south Indians, particularly Tamils, in the 1960.
Similarly, swift was the reaction of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, Sanjay Raut, who said, “I am shocked that Annamalai came from Tamil Nadu to Mumbai and claimed that Mumbai doesn’t belong to Maharashtra.”
argeting Chief Minister Fadnavis and his Deputy Eknath Shinde, heading the Shiv Sena, he questioned their silence over this. “Even after this Fadnavis and Shinde have remained silent. If Shiv Sena is standing for Maharashtra, this insult would not have been tolerated. It is an insult to Maharashtra and Marathi Pride,” he taunted. Going a step further, the Sena (UBT) paper, Saamna, in a write-up allegedly suggested that Annamalai’s legs should be chopped off for this remark.
Coming after the anti-Hindi agitation in Maharashtra, which forced the Fadnavis government to back off its decision, this remak of Annamalai has given enough ammunition to the opposition in the civic polls.