Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction on Thursday got Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s permission to hold Dussehra gathering at the Shivaji Park ground.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena camp had also given an application for holding the annual Dussehra rally at the iconic park. However, they later withdrew it.
Shiv Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar, who had submitted the request application at BMC, later posted on X: “This year too Shiv Sena’s Dussehra festival should be celebrated with enthusiasm. To avoid differences among each other during Hindu festivals, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Honourable Eknath Shinde Saheb took a conciliatory stance by announcing that the Dussehra rally will be held elsewhere.”
The backing-out of team Shinde thus paved the way for Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena. They are now scheduled to hold the rally at Shivaji Park on October 24 (Dussehra)
Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray had started the tradition of holding his party’s Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park.
Last year also, the rival Sena camps led by Shinde and Thackeray had filed applications seeking permission to hold the annual Dussehra rally at the ground. The civic body had denied permission to both the factions citing law and order concerns.
Thereafter, the Bombay High Court in September 2022 granted permission to the Thackeray-led Sena faction to hold its Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park.
The Shinde camp last year held its rally at the MMRDA ground in Bandra-Kurla Complex, a business district in suburban Mumbai. It was the party’s first Dussehra rally after Shinde and MLAs supporting him revolted against Thackeray’s leadership and formed a government with support from the BJP in June 2022.
When Bal Thackeray died in 2012, he was cremated at the Shivaji Park. Sena workers call the ground ‘Shiva-tirtha,’ or a holy place, that now houses the late leader’s memorial.
CM Shinde on Wednesday said, “This year the rally will take place at Cross Maidan and Azad Maidan since the MMRDA ground at BKC has been given for the bullet train project.”
A report in Indian Express quoted Shinde as saying that the decision was taken since he didn’t want to create law and order situation.
“If we had decided, we would have held the meeting on that ground only. But, as head of state, I did not want to create any law and order situation. Balasaheb’s thoughts and Hinduism are so genuine that no matter where his thoughts are spoken, the brilliance does not diminish,” the chief minister said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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