Less than 24 hours after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray sought the demolition of an allegedly illegal dargah or Muslim saint’s shrine off the Mahim coastline in Mumbai, the State government swung into action with the Mumbai civic administration, launching a demolition drive on Thursday.
The government action came after Mr. Thackeray — during his rally in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on Wednesday on the occasion of Gudi Padwa — played clips of the mazar or mausoleum-like structure that had come up in the Arabian Sea off Mahim. He warned that his party would not tolerate any “illicit constructions” of religious structures by the minority community. Mr. Thackeray then delivered an ultimatum to the government and the Mumbai Police Commissioner, warning that if they did not pull down the structure, MNS activists would do it themselves and build a Ganesha temple in its lieu.
Swift demolition
However, Opposition leaders from the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) cast aspersions on the swiftness of the demolition, stating that it smacked of a ploy on part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde Sena faction along, with the MNS, to project Mr. Raj Thackeray as ‘greater’ than his estranged cousin, Sena (UBT) leader and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Action to demolish the mazar-like structure, which had reportedly come up on revenue department land, commenced early on Thursday morning. The structure was removed by district and police authorities, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) supplying the machinery for the demolition.
According to Mumbai City Resident Collector Sadanand Jadhav, a six-member team was constituted for the demolition with the help of BMC personnel, while police authorities provided security.
‘Political ploy’
Opposition leaders, however, linked the suddenness of the demolition drive with Mr. Raj Thackeray’s address.
“If that structure is illegal, then I welcome its demolition. But I am astonished that the speed with which this demolition has taken place. It is clear that [Deputy CM and BJP leader] Devendra Fadnavis had given suitable clues to Raj Thackeray to deliberately raise the issue during his Gudi Padwa address, and then demolish it the next day in order to prove his [Raj Thackeray’s] effectiveness in solving such problems,” said AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel.
He added that if Mr. Thackeray had sincerely wanted the demolition of illicit structures across the State, then he would have gunned for such structures constructed by all religions to be razed.
Provoking Hindu-Muslim divide
“Raj Thackeray is a BJP puppet who is used by the ruling party before election time to foster a Hindu-Muslim divide. This [demolition drive] is a concert of the three parties [BJP, Shinde faction and MNS] to finish off Uddhav Thackeray. Notice how Raj was silent on issue of loudspeakers for over a year. Why is he again raising them now? But the people have become smarter and will not fall for such tricks,” Mr. Jaleel said.
In his public address on Wednesday, Mr. Thackeray had revived the loudspeaker issue, demanding that the Shinde-Fadnavis government dismantle loudspeakers playing the azaan from mosques or else the MNS would be compelled to do so.
Uddhav loyalist MP Arvind Sawant asked why the MNS chief had chosen to focus on a particular structure, given that there were so many illicit structures across Mumbai city.
“I do not think there is anything new about illegal structures in Mumbai. So, why did Raj Thackeray choose to focus only on one particular structure…the people have not got anything out of his rally yesterday, as Raj did not touch upon a single issue of importance pertaining to Maharashtra or the country,” said Mr. Sawant.
‘Time to move on’
The MNS chief’s speech was full of taunts at Uddhav Thackeray, holding the latter responsible for the exit of loyal Shiv Sainiks like Narayan Rane (currently in the BJP) and himself.
Responding to this, Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that the fact that Mr. Raj Thackeray, Eknath Shinde and BJP leaders all kept criticizing Uddhav Thackeray only proved that they were still scared of the ex-CM.
“Raj’s party [MNS] has completed 18 years of political existence. It has attained maturity. And yet, all his [Raj Thackeray’s] actions are still directed against Uddhav Thackeray. It is time he focused on his own party,” Mr. Raut said.
Published - March 23, 2023 06:17 pm IST
