Mumbai, June 14: Maharashtra Navirman Sena President Raj Thackeray celebrated his 55th birthday by cutting a 55 kg cake brought by his supporters who raised slogans for his good health and wished him full-throated ‘Many Happy Returns!’ at his home at midnight on Wednesday.
The workers, hailing from across Mumbai and around the state thronged Raj Thackeray’s home in Shivtirth in Dadar, and raised loud slogans of “Happy Birthday To You!”, carried posters, photos and banners with “We Love You!” lighting fireworks, singing, dancing and making merry on the streets.
As they gave the auspicious ‘midnight knock’ on his door, a smiling Raj stepped out and was greeted with lusty cheers and compliments, but he signalled with his hand to lower the decibel levels of the celebrations.
“My grandson Kiaan is down with a fever and he is sleeping… Please keep the celebrations muted…” appealed Thackeray, and the crowd immediately lapsed into near-pindrop silence, with whispers all around, as his wife Sharmila also stepped out and joined her birthday-boy hubby.
The well-wishers came up with big and small gifts, including a golden replica of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s seal, which Raj accepted graciously though he had earlier appealed to people to only bring saplings that his followers could plant or study material that could be donated to poor students.
After a while Raj smiled and cut the cake, ate some and distributed the rest to his enthusiastic activists, who left after some more festivities, albeit quietly.
This morning, Shivtirth was decorated with flowers, balloons and festoons, a marquee erected outside the home to host hundreds of people turned up to meet, greet and wish him since dawn.
A party leader said that another huge cake was brought with an image of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and Raj symbolically ‘cut’ his throat amid cheers and clapping by the gathering.
Elsewhere, there were celebrations, ‘puja’ and other social-cultural events organised to celebrate Raj’s birthday in Nagpur, Nashik, Thane and other cities.
