Raj Thackeray calls Nana Patekar 'indecent' but refuses to believe he could harass Tanushree Dutta

Raj Thackeray has finally spoken up on the Nana Patekar-Tanushree Dutta controversy. The chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has said that while Patekar is an "indecent" man, he cannot be guilty of sexual misconduct with the actress. 

Speaking at an event in Amravati, Thackeray said, “I know Nana Patekar. He is indecent. He does crazy things but I don't think he can do such a thing. Court will look into it. What is the media to do with it? #MeToo is a serious matter, the debate over it on Twitter isn't right.” 

He alleged that the #MeToo movement is diverting attention from important issues. “It seems it is being done to divert attention from petrol price, rupee value, and unemployment. If anything like #MeToo happens, women can come to MNS. We will teach a lesson to the accused. Women must raise the voice when they face oppression, not after 10 years,” he added. 

Thackeray took a dig at Dutta for not raising her voice back in 2008. In fact, the actress has often been questioned for her alleged decade long silence. However, she had spoken out against Patekar in 2008 and even registered a case against him with the police. 

Interestingly, Thackeray was at loggerheads with Patekar earlier this year after the actor condemned the party’s tactics of forcefully evacuating hawkers outside Mumbai’s railway stations. The politician had severely slammed Patekar then. 

Also, it should be noted that Dutta had alleged Patekar had called in members of the MNS to attack her car when she was trying to leave the sets of Horn OK Pleassss after refusing to shoot the item number with Patekar. 

Surprisingly, Thackeray didn’t react to Tanushree’s strong statements against MNS where she compared the party with international terrorist organizations like ISIS and Lashkar-E-Taiba.