Mumbai: Maharashtra deputy chief minister R R Patil on Tuesday said the state government would call for the tapes of speeches of actress and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray before taking further steps in the matter.
Patil said since Jaya has tendered an apology, the "matter should be treated as closed." However, the speeches by the two shall be analysed in order to take appropriate measures.
He reiterated that anybody taking the law into their hands would be dealt with "seriously," and warned against creating law and order situation in the state.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, speaking in Latur, his home district, said there was no bar on anybody speaking in Hindi, the national language. He also reiterated his warning to the MNS of strict action against any of its activists transgressing the law and indulging in violence.
For the second consecutive day, MNS activists continued their agitation against advertisement hoardings, banners and film posters, and burning effigies of all members of the Bachchan family.
Police said such incidents were reported from Kalyan in Thane district, Nashik, Beed, Ahmednagar, Latur, Sangli and Nanded.
On Monday, despite a stern warning by Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor, MNS supporters had gone on a rampage in certain pockets of the city, tearing off any picture of Bachchan family members outside cinemas, multiplexes and advertisement hoardings or banners on different roads.
Raj Thackeray kicked off a controversy on Monday when he demanded an unconditional apology from Jaya for her alleged anti-Marathi utterances, failing which the party would prevent screening in Mumbai of all films in which the Bachchans star.
He was reacting to alleged anti-Marathi utterances by Jaya at a promotional function of her son Abhishek's latest movie "Drona."
At the function in Mumbai Saturday night, when Jaya was called to speak, she said: "People of Maharashtra, please excuse me. I am from Uttar Pradesh so I will speak in Hindi."
Taking umbrage to this, Raj accused Jaya of "insulting" the state and its people under the guise of promoting the national language. "Nobody has the right to insult our mother tongue in the name of the national language," he thundered.
The MNS chief also said that if she had so much love for Hindi, then she and her family members could work in "advertisements and films in Uttar Pradesh."
However, the Samajwadi Party Youth Wing of Mumbai rushed to the rescue of the Bachchans.
Samajwadi Party youth wing president Farooq Ghosi said his activists would ensure that MNS activists do not succeed in disrupting screening of Bachchan family members' films anywhere in the city.
Meanwhile, Raj went to pray at Mumbai's most famous Ganesh idol, Lalbaugcha Raja, at Parel, in south-central Mumbai, but he declined to interact with the media. Also present around the same time was Bollywood actor Nana Patekar.
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