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Nana Patekar backs Raj Thackeray

March 3rd, 2008Related|Filed Under

Nana Patekar backs Raj Thackeray

MUMBAI, March. 3: As the Mumbai police’s gag order on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Mr Raj Thackeray expired today, his party today claimed to have received an “overwhelming” response to its signature campaign starting on 28 February to gather support for its leader’s rights to free speech and expression.
A striking part of the pro-Raj campaign has been a blunt supportive statement issued by Hindi movie actor Nana Patekar who not only signed a petition backing Mr Thackeray but said: “If the ‘sons of the soil’ concept is wrong, the formation of states along linguistic lined should also be questioned. To what extent can one bear the insults to one’s language and culture?” Nana wanted to know.
He said: “Raj has raised an important question. The manner in which Raj has doen it may be questionable but the importance of his premise cannot be doubted.” Several Mumbai film personalities such Sajid Nadiadwala, Sajid Khan, Shreyas talpade have signed the petition which seeks lifting of gag order imposed on the MNS president. Marathi actors such as Mohan Joshi, Ashok Saraf and Prashant Damle have also come out in support of Mr Thackeray. Spokesman for the MNS, Mr Shirish Parkar, said so far nearly five lakh people had signed the petition.
n SNS

There Are 5 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Qalandar on 3 March 2008:

    Re: “Several Mumbai film personalities such Sajid Nadiadwala, Sajid Khan, Shreyas talpade have signed the petition which seeks lifting of gag order imposed on the MNS president.”

    It’s pretty shameful that these chaps weren’t signing petitions when 10,000 North Indians fled Nasik, and now feel the need to suck up to one of Mumbai’s powerful men. This goes to a discussion we were having earlier — I understand if celebrities feel vulnerable and hence don’t take public stands on issues where they might face flak; but is it too much to ask that they not be so craven as to actually indulge in sycophancy? [I suppose it's possible these three genuinely support Raj Thackeray's stand, but I have my doubts, especially about people as non-serious as Sajid Khan seems to be...]

    [Btw, for the record I disagreed with the gag order in this case too; but it's galling that Raj Thackeray, who has spoken of denying the freedom of worship the constitution grants everyone to those who would celebrate chath pooja, now speak of freedom of expression. And it's quite galling that Raj Thackeray's buddies in the film industry are also lining up.]

  2. Comment by rks on 3 March 2008:

    Agree on gag order but in some cases it serves the purpose but the enforcer needs to be unbiased.

  3. Comment by Qalandar on 3 March 2008:

    I think a gag order is called for if there has been incitement to imminent violence (e.g. a leader saying things in a rally like “Let’s go teach them a lesson” sounds like it merits a gag order); I don’t think Raj Thackeray’s statements rose to that level, especially given the sorts of vulgar and offensive things that pass by without any action. In fact, from what I read Abu Azmi’s statements were more inflammatory…

  4. Comment by Rocky on 3 March 2008:

    I am dissapointed with Nana !

  5. Comment by starnotinthemaking on 3 March 2008:

    Nana takes a U turn!!very dissapointing.

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