MUMBAI, Sept 8: A prominent Indian politician has called upon people in the western state of Maharashtra to boycott actor Amitabh Bachchan and his family, accusing them of disloyalty to the region.

Raj Thackeray, chairman of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party, claimed India’s foremost film family had “poison in their minds”, citing alleged promotion of Hindi to the detriment of the Marathi language by actress wife Jaya, the Press Trust of India reported.

She said at the weekend that the family “should speak Hindi” because “we are from the (northern state of) Uttar Pradesh”, the news agency quoted her as saying.

Marathi is widely spoken in Maharashtra.

Thackeray’s uncle, the nationalist politician Bal Thackeray, changed the name of Bombay to Mumbai as part of a drive to promote local language and culture.

The Bachchan family lives in the city, which is also home to the predominantly Hindi medium Indian film industry.

An MNS spokesman said that Raj Thackeray had “categorically demanded that the Bachchan family... makes an unconditional apology about what she (Jaya Bachchan) has said”.

If she did not apologise, “the party won’t allow pictures of the Bachchan family to run in theatres and the products that are endorsed by them”, he added. He declined to comment about how the party would enforce the ban.

The volley by Raj Thackeray was the latest in a long-running feud between the politician and Bachchan.

Raj Thackeray has previously accused Amitabh Bachchan of favouritism towards Uttar Pradesh.

The Bachchans Amitabh, Jaya, son Abhishek and his wife, the former Miss World-turned-actress and model Aishwarya Rai are India’s first family of acting.

They also promote a range of consumer goods from fountain pens and face cream to designer suits and concrete.

Amitabh Bachchan’s new film, “The Last Lear”, an English language movie about a retired actor whose ambition is to play Shakespeare’s King Lear, opens on Friday.

Abhishek’s latest offering, the science fiction “Drona”, is also scheduled for release in the coming weeks.—AFP