By IANS
Mumbai : It was an unusually ‘quiet’ second anniversary for Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) here Sunday.
Since the Mumbai police have restrained Raj Thackeray from making inflammatory speeches in public, he not only refrained from making any public speeches but also declined to interact with the media gathered in hordes outside his home.
Several thousand enthusiastic MNS supporters from all over the state started arriving here since Saturday in anticipation of some major decisions that Raj Thackeray was expected to announce at a rally.
However, the planned rally failed to materialize since the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), which supervises Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, declined the MNS a permission to hold a public meeting.
Joint Police Commissioner K. K. Prasad confirmed that the police had urged MCGM to desist from giving permission for the MNS rally to ensure there were no law and order problems. Moreover, even the residents of Shivaji Park were against political rallies that disrupted their routine lives, he said.
Though Raj has kept mum the past three weeks in view of a gag order imposed first by the Mumbai police, and confirmed by a city court, his supporters continued highlighting his views.
Banners and placards explaining the party’s campaign for Maharashtrians were put up outside Raj’s home and at other locations in and around Shivaji Park.
The police gag order, which Raj has challenged, expired March 3. Raj was gagged following his stringent anti-north Indian tirade, specifically targeting Biharis settled in different parts of Maharashtra in early February.
He was arrested briefly and released on bail by a local court. However, his tirade against north Indians resulted in sporadic violence in parts of the state and a mini-exodus of migrants from Nashik and other places.
Nearly six months after Raj left his uncle Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, he launched the MNS March 9, 2006. Among the reasons leading to his parting company with the Sena were the perceived differences with his cousin and Shiv Sena’s executive president Uddhav.