The legendary Karachi Sweets in Mumbai has covered its nameboard with newspapers after the Shiv Sena’s Nithin Madhukar Nandgaonkar told its owner to change the name because of "its association with Pakistan and terrorists.” The video of Nandgaonkar's conversation with the owner of the Bandra West shop has since gone viral.
Since then, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has said that Nandgaonkar did not represent the party's stance and distanced the party from the incident.
However, the sweet shop continues to have its name board covered.
The Quint had reached out to Karachi Bakery for a reaction but they refused to comment.
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.”
After the video of the incident went viral, Sanjay Raut 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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