Mumbai: A spat broke out on Thursday between Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray and Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal over the shifting the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks from Antop Hill in Mumbai to Delhi.
Aaditya posted an order from the ministry on the shifting of the office to Delhi and called the move “a shameful act” by a minister “elected as an MP by Mumbai”. Goyal hit back saying Aaditya’s aggression was “premature” and “armed with half-baked information”. He said the headquarters of the Trademark and Patent’s office in Mumbai shall continue working from the city and only the office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks with the administration and finance divisions will be based in Delhi.
Aaditya said in his post on X, “The man betraying Mumbai that elected him. Every act of the BJP has been to insult Mumbai, and then rub salt on our wounds. The same minister feels that our states shouldn’t ask for our fair share of funds from the Centre for our contribution to the Union govt. What’s the need to shift this headquarters?”
Goyal replied on X, “This over-enthusiastic attack establishes why the people of Maharashtra deemed you unfit to govern them anymore… Modi govt wants a better alignment and functional augmentation with the department to support India’s innovators and entrepreneurs.” He said India’s Trademark and Patents ecosystem has been thriving since 2014 with “a 2x rise in number of patents filed annually since 2014, a 17x jump in number of patents granted, over 6x growth in trademark registrations, and more than 4x growth in designs registered.”
Goyal’s post said, “the government is ensuring that the processes are made faster and smoother so that our talent can continue to compete and grow globally. As for your talent, it is best reserved in hurling toothless allegations.”
Aaditya responded saying “deep frustration” was felt by “every Mumbaikar” about the govt shifting out major headquarters and industries out of Mumbai over the past few years.