Just hours after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray launched a scathing attack on illegal bars operating in Raigad district, his party workers swung into action late Saturday night, vandalised a bar allegedly operating beyond legal hours.
Videos captured over a dozen men wielding sticks approaching the Night Rider bar and vandalising the premises. They forced their way inside, causing extensive damage, police said, including smashing liquor bottles and breaking furniture.
The attack came just hours after Raj Thackeray questioned the presence of illegal dance bars in the land once ruled by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
“Raigad district has the most dance bars. They were closed, right? So many dance bars in Raigad, who owns them? Only Marathi people? So, if you are being evicted from here, then you are being trapped by making you habituated to dance bars. This is our Raigad. Raigad was the capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,” he said during a rally in Panvel on Saturday.
Responding swiftly, MNS workers descended upon the ‘Night Rider’ ladies service bar located in Kon village of Panvel taluka shortly after midnight. Eyewitnesses said the group vandalised the premises, damaging furniture and property in protest against what they called the “flourishing illegal bar trade” in the district.
The incident not only highlighted the bar’s alleged violation of operating beyond midnight but also sent a strong message about MNS’s aggressive stance on the issue. The raid is being seen as a direct fallout of Thackeray’s speech, where he had also condemned non-Marathi bar owners and raised concerns over land issues affecting local farmers.
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