India, July 4 -- Pushed on the backfoot due to the "Hindi imposition" row, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to corner cousins Raj and Uddhav Thackeray's parties by evoking the Hindutva agenda following the recent controversy over Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers assaulting a sweets shop owner at Mira Road for not speaking in Marathi.

Ahead of the upcoming local body polls across Maharashtra, the BJP has decided to strike a fine balance between protecting Marathi asmita (pride)-a key political plank of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS-and Hindutva, by highlighting its contribution to promoting the Marathi language and safeguarding the interests of Hindi-speaking Hindus from other communities in the state.

The BJP had decided to...