Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has termed as "outrageous" the alleged comment by Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) K L Prasad that "Mumbai was not anybody's ancestral property."

The top cop had made the remark while briefing the media on the recent agitation by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) against the Bachchans, following SP MP Jaya Bachchan's controversial remarks on Marathi.

In an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana on Saturday, Thackeray said the kind of statement made by Prasad had never been made earlier by any police officer in Mumbai.

Perhaps, his sense of Hindi is poor and that resulted in an unintended wrong usage. Henceforth, all police officials should be instructed by government to address press conferences only in Marathi.

These people spend their whole life in Maharashtra and refuse to learn or speak Marathi. This is unacceptable, the editorial said.

Thackeray also denounced the talk of separating Mumbai from Maharashtra and asserted that only Marathi people had the right over the great city for which Shiv Sena would continue to wage its fight.