Addressing a press conference, he also asked all commercial and industrial establishments to paint their signboards in Marathi within one month or be prepared face MNS activists' ire. However, he clarified that the MNS was ready to wait for one academic year to allow the English medium schools to introduce Marathi as a compulsory subject.
"I am writing letters to the authorities concerned in all English medium schools, appealing them to introduce Marathi as a compulsory subject, as has been done in many southern states," he said, citing the Madras High Court's decision upholding the Tamil Nadu government's decision to make Tamil compulsory in all schools in Tamil Nadu.
He warned that if the schools and commercial establishments failed to follow his party's diktats, he would ensure that they got no access to the state's resources, including water and electricity.
Criticising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for its "double standards", Thackeray said, "When I speak about the cause of Marathi people and Maharashtra, I am being dubbed as anti-national by the RSS, but not a word is uttered when something similar is said by its darling chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi."
Claiming that progressive states like Maharashtra were facing double-trouble because of states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, he said, "First we have to give a larger share of tax collection made in our states for development of these states, and then on top of this we have to face the influx of migrants from these states."
Citing the 2001 Census data, Thackeray claimed: "Till 2001, 92.55 lakh and 52.66 lakh persons migrated from UP and Bihar respectively, out of which 20.32 lakh migrated to Maharashtra from UP."
