At their first joint rally in nearly two decades, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said that he and his cousin Raj Thackeray had “come together to stay together”.

“We have united to protect Marathi,” Uddhav Thackeray told supporters of his Shiv Sena faction and those of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena at the rally in Mumbai. “I want to tell you all that us coming together is just a trailer. This is just the beginning.”

Uddhav Thackeray expressed confidence that he, along with his cousin, would win the civic body elections in Mumbai and other cities of Maharashtra. The civic body elections in Mumbai are expected to take place later this year, while the Assembly elections are scheduled in 2029.

The two leaders had announced the joint rally on June 27 to protest against the state government’s proposal to teach Hindi as the third language to students from Class 1 to Class 5 in Marathi and English medium schools.

However, after the government withdrew the resolution, the two parties decided to hold a joint “victory rally” on Saturday.

In 2005, Raj Thackeray quit the undivided Shiv Sena and formed the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena a year later.

The Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have been political rivals for the past two decades.

On Saturday, the Uddhav Thackeray chief said that the state government would not be allowed to impose Hindi in Maharashtra, PTI reported.

Raj Thackeray claimed that the proposed three-language formula was a “precursor to its plan” to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra. “The Maharashtra government rolled back the decision on the three-language formula due to the strong unity shown by Marathi people,” he added.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief also claimed that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had “managed to do what Balasaheb Thackeray could not – bring myself and Uddhav together”.

On June 29, the state government withdrew its resolution to teach Hindi as the third language to students from Class 1 to Class 5. Fadnavis also announced that a new committee had been formed to advise the state on implementing the National Education Policy’s three-language formula.

This came amid a state-wide row triggered by the Mahayuti government’s June 17 order making Hindi a “generally” taught third language.

The Mahayuti alliance comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

The June 17 order had said that if 20 students per grade in a school wished to study any other Indian language, they can opt out of Hindi. If such a demand arises, either a teacher will be appointed or the language will be taught online.

‘If you beat someone, don’t make a video’: Raj Thackeray

On Saturday, Raj Thackeray also told supporters that people living in Maharashtra should know Marathi but there was no need to beat someone if they do not speak the language, ANI reported.

However, he added: “…if someone shows useless drama, you must hit below their eardrums.”

“I tell you one more thing: if you beat someone, don’t make a video of the incident,” he said. “Let the person beaten up tell that he has been beaten up, you don’t need to tell everyone that you have beaten someone.”

This came after seven persons, believed to be members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, were booked earlier this week for assaulting a shopkeeper in Thane district’s Mira Road for not speaking in Marathi.

In a police complaint, Babulal Khimji Chaudhary stated that members of the party had come to his sweet shop at 10.30 am on June 29. When a worker in the shop spoke to them in Hindi, they got angry.

They allegedly abused the worker for not speaking Marathi. “Two of the men came to me and again said that I need to know Marathi if I have to work and then assaulted me after an argument,” Chaudhary added.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has been part of a campaign against the implementation of the three-language policy in state schools, alleging it was an attempt to impose Hindi in the Marathi-speaking state.

On Saturday, suspected workers of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena vandalised an office in Mumbai allegedly belonging to an entrepreneur Sushil Kedia a day after he said on social media that he had lived in the city for 30 years without learning Marathi “properly”, The Times of India reported.

On Saturday, the entrepreneur issued an apology on social media.

Earlier this year, workers of the party had launched a campaign demanding that bank employees in the state speak to customers in Marathi. The campaign has reportedly now been suspended.

In April, two women, one of whom was holding a baby, were assaulted in the city of Dombivli in Thane district, allegedly for saying “excuse me” instead of speaking in Marathi.

Three Maharashtra Navnirman Sena members were booked on April 1 for allegedly slapping a watchman in Mumbai’s Powai area for not speaking in Marathi. A similar incident occurred at another bank in the city, where an official was threatened for not speaking in Marathi.

In December, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena members had slapped a shopkeeper at Girgaon in South Mumbai after he allegedly asked a woman to speak to him in Marwadi instead of Marathi, the Deccan Herald reported.