Raj Thackeray Revives ‘Hatao Lungi, Bajao Pungi’ Slogan, Targets BJP’s Annamalai Ahead Of Mumbai BMC Elections

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray revived a historically controversial slogan during a rally on Sunday, directly targeting BJP leader K Annamalai ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.

Addressing a large gathering at Shivtirtha in Dadar, Thackeray used the phrase “Hatao Lungi, Bajao Pungi” to protest remarks allegedly made by Annamalai regarding Mumbai’s status as an international city. Thackeray mockingly referred to the BJP leader as ‘Rasmalai,’ framing the comments as a threat to Maharashtra’s sovereignty over its capital and alleging a conspiracy to detach Mumbai from the state.

The phrase ‘Hatao Lungi, Bajao Pungi’—which translates literally to “Remove the lungi-wearers, blow the pipe”—is a xenophobic slur originating in the mid-1960s. It served as a foundational rallying cry for the Shiv Sena, the party founded by Raj Thackeray’s uncle, Balasaheb Thackeray.

The slogan emerged during the ‘Sons of the Soil’ movement, a period of economic anxiety in Mumbai. The Shiv Sena accused South Indians, who held numerous clerical and white-collar jobs in the city’s growing private sector, of depriving the local Marathi-speaking population of opportunities. The slogan galvanized Marathi youth, leading to a decade of linguistic tension and occasional physical confrontations. While the Shiv Sena later shifted its focus to Hindutva politics in the late 1980s, the phrase remains a potent symbol of Mumbai’s nativist political history.

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By invoking this slogan before the BMC elections, Raj Thackeray is seeking to reclaim a nativist political platform, arguing that Marathi people face marginalization in their own city. Critics contend that reviving such rhetoric is a regressive move that risks damaging Mumbai’s cosmopolitan social fabric. For Thackeray, however, the slogan represents a tool to consolidate the ‘Marathi Manoos’ vote against what he perceives as an external threat to the city’s identity.