Mumbai : BJP leader K Annamalai on Monday hit back sharply at Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, rejecting threats and personal attacks over his remarks on Mumbai and Tamil icon K Kamaraj, and asserting that intimidation would not deter him from visiting the city. Who are Aditya Thackeray and Raj Thackeray to threaten me? he said, adding that he was proud to be a farmer’s son and had no fear of political intimidation.
Some have written that they will cut my legs if I come to Mumbai. I will come to Mumbai. Try cutting my legs. If I were afraid of such threats, I would have stayed back in my village,” he said. The former IPS officer also rejected accusations that his remarks undermined Marathi pride. “If I say Kamaraj is one of India’s greatest leaders, does that mean he is no longer a Tamil? If I say Mumbai is a world-class city, does that mean Maharashtrians didn’t build it?” Annamalai asked.
Annamalai also alleged that attacks against him crossed a line into insults directed at Tamils, pointing to references to attire such as dhotis and lungis. He noted that the DMK, which has historically criticised him, shares an alliance space with the Shiv Sena (UBT), calling the situation ‘surprising’. Insulting me is nothing new. The DMK has been doing it for years. But now they are insulting Tamils as a people. These politics survive on threats and intimidation. I am not someone who will be scared by talk of cutting hands or legs,” the BJP leader said.
Mocking the BJP leader as ‘rasmalai’, Thackeray questioned Annamalai’s right to comment on Mumbai-related issues and used the slogan “Hatao lungi, bajao pungi. One rasmalai came from Tamil Nadu. What is your connection to here? Hatao lungi bajao pungi, Raj Thackeray said referencing a slogan historically associated with the Shiv Sena’s early campaigns against South Indians.
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