Raj Thackeray receives death threats, MNS warns 'entire Maharashtra will burn'

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has received death threats, according to media reports on Wednesday. A senior MNS leader has now warned that the “entire Maharashtra will burn even if his (Raj) hair is touched."

The warning came from MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar, who met Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil and apprised him of the alleged threats. According to MNS, the threat reportedly came from some Muslim organisations 

A letter said to be penned in Urdu was received at the MNS office and another in Hindi by Nandgaonkar, after which he warned that "even if one hair on Raj Thackeray is touched, entire Maharashtra will go up in flames," said news agency IANS.

He claimed that after listening to him, Walse-Patil spoke with the Commissioner of Police, Sanjay Pandey, and assured a probe. Nandgaonkar said the antecedents of the purported letter, who wrote it or when, are not known, but repeated the dire consequences if the MNS chief is touched.

He added that the MNS has been demanding security for Raj Thackeray and his family and both the Centre and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra must take note of it.

The MNS has launched a state-wide movement to remove all loudspeakers from mosques, threatening to play `Hanuman Chalisa` opposite those that flout laws and relay `azaan` on public address systems, even as the MVA launched a crackdown against the MNS activists.

In retaliation, Raj Thackeray on Tuesday flayed the MVA for gunning for his men and also warned his estranged cousin and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that governments come and go and nobody remains in power forever.

Raj Thackeray has also announced plans to go to Ayodhya where he is meeting stiff opposition from a BJP MP and the Mahants, who are demanding an apology for the treatment meted out by MNS to north Indians in 2008.

(With IANS Inputs)