Bal Thackeray Flays Chavan for Backtracking, Likens it to Jackson’s ‘Moonwalk’

Coming down heavily on Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan for backtracking on his statement about taxi-permit rule requiring knowledge of Marathi and 15 years residency in the state, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has likened the political turnaround to Michael Jackson’s ‘moonwalk’, said reports.

“Within hours of making the statement, you withdrew it and have done a turnaround in style of moonwalk by Michael Jackson. Marathi manoos actually expected this U-turn from Congress rulers who do such backtracking as a matter of habit,” Thackeray said in a signed open letter to Chavan in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, report said.

“We are not against any language. But I would like to tell you that if you fail to respect Marathi in Maharashtra, you would face the wild fire of public rage in protest against your government,” he was quoted as saying.

“I ask you to stop this politics of U-turn letting down the Marathi people,” he added.