Following the controversy that emerged after a Shiv Sena leader was captured on a video footage urging the shop owners of Karachi Sweets situated in Mumbai to change their store’s name, apparently because the name is associated to Pakistan, now Devendra Fadnavis, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and a prominent BJP leader said that “Karachi will be a part of India one day”.
The already growing hullabaloo has gained tremendous attention after the comments from the two major parties of the country.
However, the Shiv Sena party has detached itself from the remarks that came from Nitin Nandgaokar regarding the change of store’s name.
The SS party leader could be seen in the viral video asking the Karachi Sweets owner to change the name to “something in Marathi”. But the comments weren’t backed by the party as Sanjay Raut refused to accept them as the party’s official stand.
The former CM was questioned by the media on Saturday on his opinion of the matter of changing name. The 50 year old said that they (the party) believes in an “Akhand Bharat”, while further adding, “We believe Karachi will one day be a part of India.”
Another BJP member held onto the former CM’s stance. Nawab Malik, a minister in Maharashtra told reporters on Sunday that they believe India, Pakistan and Bangladesh must be merged. Giving the example of the wall of Berlin, he asked, “If the Berlin Wall can fall, why can’t India, Pakistan and Bangladesh come together?” Further supporting the party’s any future wish of merging the 3 countries, he said they “will welcome it definitely.”
A few days back, the Nandgaokar controversy had taken shape after his video was widely circulated and slammed across social networking platforms. Nandgaokar, in the clip lasting for almost one minute, can be heard saying that he “hates the name Karachi” as allegedly “the city of Pakistan is a hub of terrorists”. He urged the owners of the sweets shop to change the banner to a name belonging to their ancestors as he “pays respect to them”.
In what seemed almost like a forced opinion, Nandgaokar said, “You came from Pakistan but this is your home. You’ll have to do it,” referring to changing the name. He also claimed to help them in the business following the change for which he “gave them time”.
However, the comments did not receive the party’s support as Sanjay Raut posted on Twitter saying that the Karachi store owners have “nothing to do with Pakistan” as they are “in Mumbai since the last 60 years”.
“It makes no sense to ask for changing their names now. Demand for changing their name is not Shiv Sena’s official stance,” Mr. Raut added in his tweet.
Though Shiv Sena and the BJP once upon a time shared an alliance, they will be seen opposite each other in the Mumbai civic body polls to be organized next in 2022.
