Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut responded to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis’ statement that Karachi will be a part of India one day and said we should focus on bringing back portions of Kashmir that are occupied by Pakistan before thinking about Karachi.

“First, bring the Kashmir that is occupied by Pakistan. We will go to Karachi later,” Sanjay Raut told news agency ANI.

The former chief minister of Maharashtra had said he believes in ‘akhand bharat’ and that Karachi will be a part of India one day. He was responding to a controversy that erupted after a video of a Shiv Sena leader allegedly asking Karachi Sweets shop owner in Bandra West to remove the word ‘Karachi’ from the names of their shop went viral.

“You have to do it, we’re giving you time. Change ‘Karachi’ to something in Marathi,” Sena leader Nitin Nandgaokar is seen saying in the video, according to ANI.

 

After Nandgaokar’s video became viral, Raut had clarified that the demand for changing the shop’s name is not the party’s official stance. “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,” he had tweeted.

On Sunday, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik said that his party will welcome the move if BJP creates one country by merging India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“The way Devendra ji has said that time will come Karachi will be the part of India. We have been saying that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should be merged. If the Berlin wall can be demolished then why not India, Pakistan and Bangladesh can come together? If BJP wishes to merge these three countries and make a single country, we will welcome it definitely,” Malik told ANI, when asked to comment on Fadnavis’s remark on Karachi.