No ‘Marathi pride’ in Shiv Sena’s manifesto

Mumbai: While Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray listed out various sops for Mumbaikars on Monday, there was no mention of Marathi pride in the party’s manifesto for upcoming BMC elections. Unlike its 2012 election manifesto, the party has made no significant announcement for its core vote bank.

Shiv Sena, which claims to champion the pro-Marathi agenda, has nothing much to show for its plans to promote Marathi culture in the city.

The promise of constructing a gallery for Marathi theatre history has been reiterated in this year’s manifesto too. The Dabbawala Bhavan for city’s dabbawalas, a predominantly Marathi venture, finds a mention in the manifesto.

This is in sharp contrast to its last election manifesto in which Shiv Sena had made some big promises for Marathi Manoos. In a special section in the manifesto called ‘Marathi Asmita (Marathi Pride), the party had promised to open public service and self-employment centres for Marathi people in all administrative ward offices.

In addition to this, it had also assured to set up Marathi Sahitya (Literature) Bhavan and Maharashtra Bhavan for the conservation of state culture, art and food.

There was also a promise of Marathi Rangbhoomi Bhavan to promote the music theatre. However, during its five-year reign, Shiv Sena was not able to fulfil these promises.

It only succeeded in keeping its promise of celebrating the birth anniversary of noted Marathi laureate VV Shirwadkar on February 27 as ‘Marathi Bhasha Din’ in all municipal offices, hospitals and schools.

In 2017 manifesto, there is no section in the manifesto to promote the Marathi pride.