The MNS has written letters to several city developers threatening them to also sell flats to non-vegetarian b... Read More

(This story originally appeared in on Apr 29, 2017)

Sell flats to non-vegetarians or we'll teach you a lesson, this is Raj Thackeray 's latest threat to city developers. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena ( MNS ) has taken up the fight against discrimination on the basis of food preferences by real estate developers , currently on the rise in the city.

Raj's party has written letters to several city developers threatening them to also sell flats to non-vegetarian buyers.The letter warns the developers that failing this, the MNS will stop work at all their construction sites. Party sources said that after their miserable defeat in the civic polls, this was Raj's first attempt to get back to its street fighting techniques and revive the disintegrating party.

“We have received complaints that you don't sell flats to those who eat non-vegetarian food. We want a letter from you stating that you will not discriminate while selling flats and sell them to non-vegetarians too.If we don't get such a letter, then we will teach you a lesson,“ the MNS's threat reads.

“Some developers have already given us promissory notes saying that they will not refuse flats to nonvegetarians,“ said Sandip Deshpande, MNS zonal head from Dadar.

Last week, refusing to take action against the developers who deny houses to non-vegetarians, the BMC had asked people to file FIRs with the police instead. “If a developer is taking in writing from a person whether he is a vegetarian or non-vegetarian, it does not come under the provisions of the development control rules (DCR). So, it is not possible to add this condition into the DCR. Also, it is beyond the jurisdiction of the municipal corporation to keep a check or take actions on such issues,“ Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta had said.

The MNS had taken up the fight against vegetarian housing societies last year after MNS corporator Santosh Dhuri complained to the police that a construction firm refused to sell him an apartment in Goregaon (West) because of his food preferences.

While the MNS has not mentioned any particular community in its threat letter, political observers said that the MNS was trying to push his Marathi manoos agenda by targeting the Gujarati and Marwari communities. “This issue could strike a chord with the Maharashtrian voters while the Shiv Sena and BJP are all wooing the Gujarati community. The MNS might just be able to regain some popularity this way.But if this doesn't work, then it's only downhill from here for the party,“ a political observer said.

“I would like to inform you that we do not discriminate our buyers on the basis of caste or food habits. We sell flats to all types of people. We assure you that we won't discriminate on the basis of eating habits in our projects,“ one of the developers said in his letter to Raj.

