Marathi Hridaysamrat is the latest word added to the lexicon of Maharashtra politics. If not the entire state, then at least in those 12 constituencies from where Maharashtra Navnirman Sena candidates are contesting the election to the 15th Lok Sabha. MNS chief Raj Thackeray is clearly playing his role as saviour of the Marathi manoos (Marathi people) to the hilt.

MNS supporters one speaks to refer to Raj Thackeray as the Marathi Hridaysamrat a coinage similar to Hindu Hridaysamrat, which his uncle Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray was called by supporters after the 1992-1993 Mumbai riots.

Not even the erstwhile saviour of the Marathi manoos, the Shiv Sena, is a match for Raj's current ability to attract Maharastrian crowds to the MNS rallies he addresses.

Each time he appears on the dais, always nattily dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, to address a rally in support of his party's candidate, he begins his speech relating how the Marathi manoos will soon be sidelined to the outskirts of the city by the "immigrants from north India."

Image: Raj Thackeray delivers one of his acerbic speeches at Prateeksha Nagar in North-Central Mumbai.

Also read: Coverage: India Votes, 2009

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