Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 4: Even as in a bid to embarrass the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government leader Shiv Sena the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray released an old clip of Bal Thackeray opposing playing of loudspeakers in mosques during Aazaan, several mosques in and near Mumbai and in other parts of Maharashtra on Wednesday voluntarily kept the loudspeakers off apparently to avoid a clash.
The MNS had threatened to chant Hanuman Chalisa in loudspeakers in front of the mosques where the public address system would be found in operations during “Aazaan.”
Loudspeakers remained switched off during azaan at several places in Maharashtra, including Parbhani, Osmanabad, Hingoli, parts of Jalna, Nanded, Nandurbar, Shirdi and Shrirampur. At some places, they were used on low volume.
About 250-260 MNS workers have been detained across the state. Mumbai police detained several MNS workers gathered outside Raj Thackeray’s residence, officials said. In Pune, eight MNS workers were detained, they said.
“I have been receiving calls from several parts of the state and outside. At many places, my party’s workers have been detained and issued notices. Those who are following the law are being detained and those who don’t are going scot-free,” Thackeray told the media. He said the issue is “not only about mosques and there are several temples with illegal loudspeakers.”
The MNS chief stressed that this is “not a one-day issue”. “If mosques don’t follow guidelines, then Hanuman Chalisa will be played at double volume. Students and ill people suffer because of loudspeakers. Is your religion bigger than people?”
The Maharashtra government had made extensive preparations to maintain law and order in view of the MNS treat which Raj Thackeray said would continue till the government ordered dismantling of the loudspeakers found in unauthorised use. Leaves of police personnel have been cancelled and forces deployed in sensitive locations. Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey visited various police stations areas to review the situation in the city.
According to the Maharashtra Home Department, 135 out of the 1,140 mosques in Mumbai used loudspeakers before 6 am today. “Appropriate action should be taken against these 135 mosques that went against the orders of the Supreme Court of India,” the Home Department said.
Aurangabad Police has registered a case against Raj Thackeray for allegedly delivering a provocative speech two days ago. Mumbai Police have issued a notice to the MNS chief under Section 149 of CrPC, invoked to prevent a cognizable offence.
Raj Thackeray has been asserting that his protest against loudspeakers was not on religious but on social grounds and that the recitations from mosques are leading to noise pollution.
Amidst the face-off between the MNS and the state government helmed by his cousin Uddhav Thackeray, has come the old clip in which the chief minister’s father is heard saying that when the Shiv Sena comes to power in Maharashtra, it would ban playing of loudspeakers in mosques.
Draped in a saffron shawl, Bal Thackeray is purportedly saying in the short clip, “When our government comes to power we will ban loudspeakers on mosques and stop namaaz on roads as it causes inconvenience to common public.”
Though the Sena founder’s stance on such issues was never a secret, the timings of playing the clip by Raj has raised questions about his intentions since the Brihan Mumbai municipal corporation elections were round the corner.
Raj formed his own outfit MNS in 2006. His move was then variously described as “daring” as well as “reckless”, with not many believing that he could resort to such a bid during Senior Thackeray’s life time.
Two months after Bal Thackeray’s demise, Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray took over as the Sena president in January 2013. During his party meeting then, Uddhav asserted that epithets like “supremo” and “Hindu Hriday Samrat” will always be associated with his father.
With the MNS struggling in its attempts to establish itself in Maharashtra politics even 16 years after its inception, failing to make any significant mark electorally, Raj has been looking for ways and means through which his party could gain political mileage and its prospects be boosted.
Early last month, raking up the use of loudspeakers at mosques during azaan, the MNS chief gave an ultimatum to the Uddhav-led MVA government to remove loudspeakers from places of worship, especially mosques, in the state before May 3, warning that otherwise the MNS activists will take to the streets and chant Hanuman Chalisa outside mosques.
In this move, Raj has also turned up the heat on the MVA coalition government, comprising of the Sena, Congress and NCP, putting it on the back foot. But the NCP has put the ball back on the BJP’s court demanding that the central government bring a law on the issue in the light of the 2005 Supreme Court guidelines.
In the backdrop of the snowballing loudspeaker row, Raj’s move to release Bal Thackeray’s old clip is a clear bid to stake claim over the latter’s Hindutva legacy while projecting Uddhav-led Sena as a “travesty” of the original Sena.
Likening the MNS with Bal Thackeray-founded party, MNS leader Bal Nandgaonkar claimed, “Raj Thackeray has never uttered a word against any community or religion, and has only talked on issues which have become social problems.”
