Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday appealed to his party workers to not perform the announced ‘Maha Aarti’ at Prabhadevi on Tuesday (May 3), so that no social tension is created during the festival of Eid.
Taking to Twitter, Thackeray said, “Tomorrow is Eid. I have already spoken about it at the Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) rally. This festival of the Muslim community must be celebrated with happiness. As discussed, please do not play ‘aartis’ on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya as we do not want to hamper the celebrations of any religion. Loudspeakers are a social issue and not a religious one, and I will spell further course of action regarding the same through my next tweet.”
Following this, party leader Yashwant Killedar tweeted, “In accordance with the orders of Raj Thackeray, the Maha Aarti program organized at Prabhadevi at 6.30 pm tomorrow stands canceled. The next date, time, and venue will be communicated to you.”
Addressing a gathering at Sanskrutik Mandal Maidan in Aurangabad on Sunday, Thackeray said that if loudspeakers are not taken down then the Hanuman Chalisa would be played with double volume compared to Azaan.
“Today is the first day of Maharashtra (Maharashtra Day). I won’t listen from the 4th day from now. Wherever we will see a loudspeaker, we will also chant Hanuman Chalisa in front of the loudspeaker in double volume,” he said.
Thackeray also said that loudspeaker is not a religious issue but it is a national issue, warning that if they don’t stop, then wthe party will also take a stand.
“This is not a religious issue. It is a national issue but if you stop us, we will also take a stand. All the loudspeaker speaker is not under the law and it is illegal. The Supreme Court already said it was illegal, it was not a matter of Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) it was a country issue. When we take sabha they say it was an education zone, a temple zone you can’t take sabha, but for them, there is an objection. Who gave you rights?” asked the MNS chief.
