After migrants, Raj targets English medium schools

After his campaign against North Indians, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Monday asked English medium schools in the state to make Marathi a compulsory subject from first standard and shopowners to put up nameplates in Marathi in a month.

 The MNS chief also reiterated his appeal to Marathi officials to stop abetting 'outsiders' by issuing bogus domicile certificates and driving licences, saying these acts were rendering the state bankrupt and leading to spurt in crime.

The two-year old MNS will also contest the Lok Sabha polls, Raj told reporters in suburban Bandra today.

Raj also warned the media to call the country's financial capital Mumbai and not as `Bombay'. He named a prominent national English daily, which carried an article today, calling Mumbai as Bombay.

"When the media can call other cities by their official names, like in case of Bengaluru, why not use the same yardstick for Mumbai and stop calling it Bombay"? he said.

Raj said he has written to shopowners, asking them to implement his Marathi signboard diktat within a month. As for the deadline for English schools, he said it would be a lengthy process.

Spewing venom against his pet hate objects, the migrants from UP and Bihar, Raj said as per the 2001 census, 92.55 lakh people from UP and 52 lakh from Bihar had migrated to other states.

Pointing to the 'drain on Maharashtra's economy', the MNS chief said 83 per cent of the money orders made from the state are destined to UP and Bihar and the amount sent to these states is Rs 1,556 crore.

"I will contact concerned people after a month. If no action is taken from their end, the MNS will undertake the job of maintaining law and order", Raj said.