MNS chief Raj Thackeray sets May 3 ‘deadline’ for MVA on loudspeakers at mosques across Maharashtra

Raj Thackeray addresses a party meeting in Thane on Tuesday

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray has appealed to the state and the Centre to ensure that Muslim worship places remove loudspeakers from their premises by May 3, or else his party will intensify its agitation for the cause, which he said wasn't religious but a social one.

Thackeray was speaking at a public rally in Thane on Tuesday. The speech came in response to the political reactions to his Gudi Padva address at Shivaji Park early this month. He dismissed the charge that MNS was the BJP's Team-B, because he had been speaking about Hindutva and removing the speakers from the masjids for several years. "Which was the party that sent the Pakistani artists packing? Which was the party that raised a voice against Raza Academy's violence against our policewomen?" he asked.

He said he and his party colleagues were prepared to face court cases in pressing for the demand if the speakers were not removed after the deadline. He reiterated his party's resolve to play Hanuman Chalisa in front of masjids and go further if the ‘request' was not honoured. Thackeray lambasted the Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, his MP daughter Supriya Sule, his nephew Ajit Pawar, and his estranged cousin and CM Uddhav Thackeray and his Shiv Sena colleagues.

"I haven't said anything wrong about the speakers. Religion should be kept at home. One cannot block roads and trouble the people by blaring loudspeakers. If you don't listen to our demands, we will play Hanuman Chalisa. We don't disturb communal harmony. We don't want riots. The problem of speakers troubles all of us. Even my Muslim friends have endorsed my position on this issue," said Thackeray.

He dared the state government to do whatever it wants. "We will not step back. Please call the maulvis of masjids in the state and tell them to remove loudspeakers by May 3. Ramzan Eid will be on May 3. We will wait till then because we also celebrate festivals. However, the trouble cannot remain 365 days a year," he said. He reminded the state and the Centre of the Supreme Court observation on why the speakers cannot be allowed. "If you don't do it because of vote politics, then we can't sit idle. This particular problem is countrywide."

Thackeray wanted the Modi government to legislate laws to have a uniform civil code in the country, and measures to control India's enormous population growth. "It's not that I'm jealous of ‘them' having five in their families, but it is because the country will explode one day. These are essential and important things for the country."

‘Explained position to ED'

Thackeray said he had explained to the Enforcement Directorate his role in a company which he had quit within a year. "I got the ED notice because of the company IL&FS which I was part of for a year. I went to the ED. I don't fear anyone," he said, denying that he was served notice because he spoke against PM Narendra Modi. "I have spoken against Modi openly and opposed him. And I will speak against him again if need be. Now it is you to (face the music) because you (the MVA) have eaten cow dung," he said, adding that he also had other important subjects to deal with while addressing his party workers.

Attacks the Pawars

Responding to Sule's charge that the ED action did it to him, he said the MP had double standards. "Ajit Pawar and his sisters are raided by the ED, but you are spared. Why? Sharad Pawar and Modi enjoy good relations despite the ED's action against Ajit Pawar. It seems Sharad Pawar himself tells Modi about the ED's next target. Pawar has met Modi earlier and he met him again after action against Sanjay Raut," he said, adding that nobody knew what the NCP had actually told Modi in the recent meeting. He said Pawar's happiness was deceiving and Raut might find himself in trouble without knowing about it. "He will not know when he is hung upside down. He will know [the reason] very late."

He said that Sharad Pawar was responsible for triggering and intensifying caste wars in Maharashtra since 1999 by forming proxy organisations like Sambhaji Brigade that targets other caste groups. "Pawar never takes the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj because he fears the Muslim voters. He is an atheist who defines religions in his own ways. The truth is that Maharashtra has been the state of Chhatrapati who first raised the saffron flag against the green flag," added Thackeray, appealing to the people to quit caste bias, which ultimately will destroy the state, but not before extending benefits to the divisive leaders.