MUMBAI, MAY 14 : Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday asked all institutions in the city with the name Bombay as the prefix to change it to Mumbai, failing which the party would target them.

“If the supporters of ‘Bombay’ keep harping their tune, the ‘Bombaywallahs’ will be forced to flee,” Thackeray said in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana. “Samajhne wale ko ishara kaafi hai (Intelligent people should take a cue from our indications). Be it a school, an English newspaper or any industry, we are giving an indication as to what we think they should do,” he said.

“Those clamouring to retain the name of Bombay instead of changing it to Mumbai will be forced to flee,” he warned.

The Sena had targeted a leading newspaper, an elite school and a textile showroom for using Bombay in their name. On Tuesday, it also protested in front of the Bombay Stock Exchange, demanding a change in its name. As many as 24 workers from the party and its campus wing Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Sena were also arrested outside BSE under provisions of the Bombay Police Act for violating prohibitory orders on Tuesday. The move to attack these institutions comes after Saamana editor Sanjay Raut wrote a stinging article, rebuking institutions for continuing to use the word Bombay in their names.

In Wednesday’s editorial, Thackeray said: “What is the harm if the name of Bombay High Court is changed to Mumbai High Court, Bombay Dyeing to Mumbai Dyeing or Bombay Stock Exchange to Mumbai Stock Exchange?” He said, “If Calcutta can be changed to Kolkata, Bangalore to Bengaluru, Trivandrum to Thiruvananthapuram, then what is the problem if the name of Bombay becomes Mumbai?” Besides, he said the Central Government had long back changed Bombay’s name to Mumbai.