Anti-Thackeray Feelings

Anti-Thackeray Feelings Continues to Grow in Bihar

Anger directed towards Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray spilled over into the weekend as several private and political groups in Patna on Saturday burnt the effigies of the separatist Marathi leader for making uncharitable remarks towards Bihar's most revered festival Chhath.The women's wing of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), demanding arrest of Thackeray for trying to divide the nation on regional basis, burnt his effigy at the Income Tax roundabout.Members of the state Samajwadi Party (Students' wing) also burnt Thackeray's effigy while calling him a bigot and a racist."This man, like his uncle, has completely lost his mind and the only place for him is to keep him confined either in a jail or a mental institution," said the students' leader Ranjit Kumar.Meanwhile, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leaders, at a party meet on Saturday, condemned Thackeray's anti-Bihar statement saying Chhath was even more important to Biharis than the Ganesh Utsav was to Maharashtrians. "How would Thackeray and his ilk feel if we said the entire Ganesh festival in Maharashtra was a drama?" asked party state general secretary Vijay Kumar Singh."Thackeray must apologize to Biharis worldwide for hurting their religious sentiments and if he failed to do so, we will take our agitation from the streets of Patna to the streets of Mumbai because Maharashtra is not the personal property of Thackeray, his equally-deranged uncle or any other person for that matter," said Singh.As reported before, Thackeray, during his usual rant against non-Maharashtrians in Maharashtra a few days ago that has earned him the title of Ayatollah of Maharashtra, among many others not suitable for publication, had said that Chhath was more of a drama and had no religious relevance.His statement sparked a statewide protest with leaders like Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Ram Vilas Paswan showing complete unanimity in condemning Thackeray.In his zeal to grab the title of the 'godfather of Mumbai' from his ailing uncle Bal Thackeray, the separatist leader also took the Hindi film superstar Amitabh Bachchan to task saying that the fact he was acting as the brand ambassador of Uttar Pradesh, Bachchan was betraying the state of Maharashtra that gave him food, roof, money, and fame.