Pune, Oct 23: Middle-class citizens prefer to stay away from politics and politicians, but they don’t realise that their entire life is somewhere connected to politics and politicians from the time they wake up in the morning to the time they sleep, MNS Chief Raj Thackeray asserted.
The middle-class citizens do not even need to contest elections, but they should pay the required attention to politics rather than ignore it.
Thackeray was speaking at a programme organised by the Indian Institute of Architects, Pune Center to celebrate World Teachers’ Day and World Architects Day at Annabhau Sathe Auditorium on Satara Road last evening.
On the occasion, three senior architects, Vikas Bhandari, Vishwas Kulkarni and Shobha Bhopatkar, who have been working in the field of architecture for more than 50 years, were presented with the IIA S. K. Belwalkar Award for Excellence in Profession at the hands of Raj Thackeray. The award was in the form of a certificate and a badge of honour.
Speaking on the occasion, Raj Thackeray said, “The middle class was the link between the poor and the rich. After 1995 India became part of the world economy. The middle class could predict what might happen and took the opportunity that was created. While everyone’s life has sped up due to internet facilities and other things, a society having an approach like ‘Hum logo ki thokhar mai hi jamana’ got created and the grip of the middle class got loosened. But now the middle class should pay attention to politics since it affects their everyday life.”
There is a need today to use the aesthetic vision of architects to work on urbanisation. Thackeray said, “I will try my best to put the ideas of architects to good use when they come to me with their concepts and ideas in the near future.”
Stating that it is unfortunate that the time has come to pronounce the importance of cleanliness in Maharashtra, where Saint Gadge Baba was born, Raj Thackeray further said, “Mumbai took time to come to the condition that it is today but the situation in Pune may worsen much faster.”
