MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday launched a sharp attack on industrialists and public figures who praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government while choosing to live abroad, questioning their claims that India had improved significantly under the current administration. Speaking at the 20th anniversary rally of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena in Mumbai, Thackeray cited actors Vivek Oberoi and R Madhavan as examples and linked their decisions to what he described as growing frustration among the country’s youth.Claiming that the government had itself acknowledged in Parliament that entrepreneurs were leaving India, Thackeray argued that many of those who publicly endorse the government’s narrative were unwilling to build their own lives in the country.“Vivek Oberoi, who played Modi’s role in the movie on Modi’s life, lives in Dubai. R. Madhavan, who goes on about how everything became great during Modi’s time and how the country changed, moves to Dubai with his family. If you think Modi has made everything so great, then why are you settling abroad? These people will come here to work in government-sponsored films and then go back to Dubai,” he said.He added that the trend was not limited to actors, saying, “Industrialists are going abroad.”Thackeray said the migration of entrepreneurs and young professionals reflected a deeper crisis of confidence, arguing that Indian cities had failed to provide the quality of life that many young people expected.“This government made a big fuss about ‘Smart Cities.’ Where are those Smart Cities? Not a single city here is proper. Today, kids are going abroad. Why? Because they don’t feel like living here. The cities are ruined; there’s no place to take children out. Abroad, there are excellent roads, fields, gardens, cleanliness, sports complexes, everything. Because of all this, these kids feel like going abroad and settling there. And we feel nothing about it?” he said.The MNS chief also weighed in on Prime Minister Modi’s remarks condemning abusive language directed at him and his mother, saying he agreed that such language was unacceptable but accused the BJP of nurturing a culture of online abuse.“The language used against him was indeed inappropriate. No one should use such language about anyone. It was wrong. But tell this to your people too. Since 2012, the troll army that your party has nurtured trolls everyone, from Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, to Indira Gandhi, to all of us including me, in the filthiest ways. Today, if artists in Maharashtra take a stand against the government, they get trolled. Tell your people about all this sometime. You reap what you sow,” he said.He continued, “The Prime Minister said wrong things were said about his mother. That was indeed wrong. Such things shouldn’t happen. But tell your party people that others have mothers too. Tell the trolls you’ve nurtured. You say, ‘The kids have been forgiven.’ But who will apologize for what your people did? Those who ordered lathis on students, those who split students’ heads open, who will they ever apologize?”Addressing student activists, Thackeray argued that recent protests should not be viewed merely through the lens of the NEET examination controversy. He said the unrest reflected wider concerns over unemployment, privatisation, poor infrastructure, corruption and the lack of opportunities.“The protests that happened weren’t just because of the NEET exam chaos. Go beyond that and think about what’s simmering in the minds of the boys and girls, the young men and women,” he said, warning that further public anger could erupt if those concerns remained unaddressed.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
Quoting Osho, Thackeray rejected the suggestion that the country’s youth had gone astray. “Who says the country’s youth is wandering on the wrong path? If the path-makers have built the wrong path, what’s the fault of the youth?” he said.He urged members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena to understand the aspirations and anxieties of both urban and rural youth in Maharashtra, saying the movement needed to engage with the realities facing the state’s younger generation.
