Mumbai, August 21: Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday said that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) proposed rally on Tuesday to protest the Azad Maidan violence was a political ploy by Raj Thackeray to hijack the Hindutva agenda from Shiv Sena.
The MNS will hold demonstrations to protest the violence against police force and innocent people at Azad Maidan last week.
Chavan indicated that the MNS, through the public demonstration, was trying to gain sympathy from the police force and media. “The MNS is cleverly using the Azad Maidan violence to consolidate its own politics against Sena and win support from the police and media,” he said.
Chavan held a marathon meeting with top police officials to review the security measures ahead of the MNS rally.While expressing concern about the law and order situation in the wake of the rally, Chavan said: “The administration is monitoring the developments to avert any untoward incidents.”
Indicating that the possibility of a few political forces covertly working with the MNS for the rally cannot be ruled out, Chavan said: “Nobody will be allowed to take law and order in his/her hands.”
The police has given permission for a peaceful march. The government has strictly indicated that the organisers will have to adhere to the norms to ensure there is no law and order problems.
However, Chavan refused to comment on whether the police could arrest Thackeray if he made any provocative speeches.
Sources have indicated that the Sena, which always had an upper hand on Hindutva issues, appeared to be nervous with the MNS rally.
Comments
Add new comment