Demand for changing the name of Karachi Sweets is not Shiv Sena’s official stance, confirmed MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday, 19 November, after a video of a Shiv Sena leader demanding that Bandra’s Karachi Sweets change it’s name to something in Marathi went viral on the internet.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Shiv Sena’s Nithin Madhukar Nandgaonkar, can be spotted in a viral video, telling the owner of Karachi Bakery in Mumbai’s Bandra West to change the name of the sweet shop as he “hates the name because of its association with Pakistan and terrorists.”
The shop-owner, in the video, can be seen trying to reason with Nandgaonkar and tell him that the name of the shop was given by his ancestors because they had travelled from Karachi post partition. In response to this, Nandgaonkar says that the shop-owner can name it after anything, his ancestors or himself, but not Karachi as the place, he alleges, is associated with terrorists.
The owner tells Nandgaonkar that the shop has no connection to present day Karachi in Pakistan but the Shiv Sena leader says:
“We are giving you time, you have to make the change because the name is synonymous with Pakistan, change ‘Karachi’ to something in Marathi.”
The Shiv Sena leader also offers any assistance that the shop owner may require in changing the name, but says that the change should be reflected in the shop, as well as the government records.
News agency ANI, later, shared a photo of the shop with the name of the store covered with newspapers.
SANJAY RAUT’S REACTION
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, however, later took to Twitter to say:
“Karachi bakery and karachi sweets have been in mumbai since last 60 years. They have nothing to do with Pakistan . It makes no sense to ask for changing their names now. Demand for changing their name is not shivsena’s official stance. (Sic)”
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