Mumbai, Feb 21 : Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has challenged Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to perform the 'Chhat Puja' on the Marina Beach in Chennai and to oppose the Tamil Nadu Government's ordinance to make Tamil compulsory in schools across the State.

Reacting to Lalu's recent statement that he would come and celebrate Chhat Puja in Mumbai, Thackeray said: "Lalu who has turned Bihar into a hell, should hold a mela of Biharis in Tamil Nadu ruled by his ally at the Centre to champion the cause of North Indians there."

Answering a demand by some of local North Indian Congress leaders that Hindi should be made the official language in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Thackeray said: "Let them try this out in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkota and Guwahati first."

Congress leaders demanding Hindi as the official language of the civic body should be put behind bars by the Maharashtra Government, he said in an article in the party mouthpiece Saamna.

He also criticised Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for saying Mumbai's doors were open to all.

"Mumbai is being exploited criminally and economically at the cost of the Bhoomiputras who have remained underprivileged," he countered.

ANI