The owners of the iconic Karachi Bakery, embroiled in several controversies over having `Karachi' in its name, have come out with a response over the shuttering of its Mumbai store.
Denying claims of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers that the store was shut after the naming controversy, Rajesh Ramnani, one of the owners of the bakery, told The Print that they "will never think of changing the name no matter what" and that the expiry of the lease agreement and higher costs were the reasons behind shutting the current shop in Mumbai's Bandra area.
"Our lease agreement expired in Mumbai, which is why we shut the store. We are searching for new places and will come back once that is found. The brand is not leaving Mumbai,” Ramani told the publication.
“The controversy saddened us but we have to carry our legacy forward. I used to go to the store after school ever since I was nine years old. We have emotional ties with the brand," Ramani added
In November 2020, Haji Saif Shaikh, a local leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, had sent a legal notice to the owner, saying that the word Karachi hurts sentiments of ordinary Indians and the Indian Army because it is a Pakistani city.
The bakery should be renamed and the signboard should be in Marathi, he had demanded.
In its response, the bakery owner said it was established by a Sindhi-Hindu family which migrated from Pakistan, and the brand is now recognized globally.
They did not use the name Karachi to hurt the feelings of Indians. In fact, bakery founder Khanchand Ramani had experienced violence by pro-Pakistan elements during Partition, it said.
Being a "victim of violence espoused by Pakistan", they can never make any statement or do anything that can hurt feelings of fellow Indians, the bakery said.
"It is incorrect to suggest that my client (bakery owner) has disrespected the sacrifice of our soldiers. The bakery has always been Indian and will continue to do so. Therefore, every allegation questioning my client's loyalty towards India is incorrect and unwarranted," the reply said.
In the same month, a local Shiv Sena worker had demanded that the owner should drop `Karachi' from its name because of its Pakistani connection. He had further told the owner that he will give him time to rename the shop. In his post on Facebook, he added that the word Karachi should be dropped from all signboards in 15 days.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut later tweeted that Karachi Bakeries and Karachi Sweet Shops are operating in Mumbai for the last 60 years, and "they have nothing to do with Pakistan".
Controversy's child
Controversies surrounding its name are certainly not new to the bakery which was founded in Hyderabad in 1953 and now boasts over 20 outlets across cities like Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi, apart from Hyderabad itself.
Following the Pulwama attack in 2019, the spotlight fell on Karachi Bakery in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru where the management of the two stores was told by vigilantes to hide ‘Karachi’, Pakistan’s buzzing commercial centre, from their signboards. Forced to show their Indianness, they also put up a tricolour along with posters reading that the brand was established in 1953 by a Sindhi, Khanchand Ramnani, who migrated to India after Partition and is "absolutely Indian by heart".
(With inputs from PTI)