By IANS,
Mumbai : Activists of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Tuesday disrupted a meeting of traders here and damaged some shops in Thane over their demand that all signboards in the city be in Marathi language.
The Federation of Traders’ Welfare Association (FTWA) had organised a meeting to finalise plans for a city-wide trade shutdown in protest against the MNS’s demand to change all shops’ signboards to Marathi by Aug 28.
According to an FTWA organiser, when filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt got up to address the gathering at Roopam Departmental Store in south Mumbai, some MNS activists barged in and disrupted the meeting.
The ruckus created by the MNS ensured that the traders’ meet, which was also addressed by well-known criminal lawyer Majeed A. Memon and Roopam owner Viren Shah, was aborted and the organisers trooped down to the police station to lodge a complaint.
The protesting MNS activists also stoned the Roopam store, which suffered minor damages.
In Thane, some activists said to belong to the MNS damaged some shops and commercial establishments on the same issue.
The MNS will hold a meeting Wednesday where party chief Raj Thackeray will chalk out its future strategy on the issue.
Nearly six weeks ago, the MNS issued a deadline to all shops and commercial establishments to put up signboards in Marathi, in addition to English and other languages.