Mumbai’s famous Karachi Bakery shut down recently due to business losses, The Times of India reported on Thursday. Last year, the iconic bakery was embroiled in a controversy as workers from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Shiv Sena criticised it for what they claimed was a “Pakistani name”.
“We shut shop after the old lease agreement lapsed,” Rameshwar Waghmare, the bakery’s manager, told The Times of India. “Our landlord had been demanding a higher sum as rent, which was unviable for us. The lockdown had already caused business volumes to drop.”
However, the MNS claimed credit for the bakery closing down. On Wednesday, MNS Vice President Haji Saif Shaikh tweeted saying, “After massive protest for its name, Karachi Bakery finally closes its only shop in Mumbai.”
But Waghmare clarified that the decision was based on business factors. “There was no reason to capitulate by changing our name,” he told The Times of India. “The bakery was a…