By IANS,
Mumbai : The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has “no proposal” to hold ‘Hutt Puja’ against any section of society, a party spokesman said here Saturday.
“There were rumours in the past few weeks that MNS would launch the so-called ‘Hutt Puja’ to mark our president Raj Thackeray’s birthday today (Saturday). Those may be purely individual views. The party has no formal proposal to launch any kind of puja,” party spokesman Shirish Parker told IANS.
Since the past one month or so, political circles were agog with rumours that the MNS would launch ‘Hutt Puja’ targeting north Indians living and working in the state.
In order to counter it, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had taken pre-emptive action by seeking permission to observe the traditional ‘Chhatt Puja’ in Mumbai almost six months before its usual date in November.
The party’s Maharashtra unit had even announced plans to move court to get permission for the event and counter any perceived threats to the religious festival from MNS.
Parker sought to end all speculation on the contentious issue with his statement.
However, he added that the MNS’ campaign championing the cause of local Maharashtrians would continue in different forms.
Raj, who turned 40, had a relatively quiet birthday without any political programmes or assertions and strictly no media interaction.
He met thousands of his supporters who had trooped in from all over Maharashtra to greet him. He inaugurated a fleet of charitable ambulances that would help poor people in Mumbai.