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'We don't feel that the law and order situation will turn bad because of our agitation.'
With the Bharatiya Janata Party boycott and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's decision to continue its agitation against mosques using loudspeakers in violation of the Supreme Court's directives, the all-party meeting called by Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse-Patil on Monday seems to have ended in failure.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray had first raised the ante at his April 2 Gudi Padwa rally egging his supporters to chant the Hanuman Chalisa outside mosques in Maharashtra -- a tactic used by Sangh Parivar constituents in north India -- that use loudspeakers at high volume. Since then, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra has been on the defensive over the issue.
With Raj Thackeray himself, former BJP chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray absent at Monday's meeting, the outcome of this all-party exercise was a foregone conclusion.
"Raj saheb had prior commitments and so he could not attend the meeting," former MNS MLA Nitin Sardesai says about Thackeray's absence.
The all-party meeting -- chaired by Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar (both from the Nationalist Congress Party) -- and attended by former MLA Bala Nandgaonkar, Nitin Sardesai and Sandeep Deshpande from the MNS, Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde and Transport Minister Anil Parab from the Shiv Sena, Textile and Minister Aslam Shaikh and MLA Nana Patole from the Congress, did not succeed in breaking the logjam between the government and MNS.
While Walse-Patil cited the Supreme Court guidelines on use of loudspeakers, the MNS representatives insisted that the state government was not implementing these guidelines strictly for vote-bank politics.
"The home minister says that mosques which use loudspeakers have already got the government's permission to do so after they accepted to adhere to the Supreme Court guidelines. We want the government to show us what permissions they have got," says Nandgaonkar.
In fact, when Rediff.com spoke with the three MNS leaders before and after the all-party meeting they insisted that the MNS will not withdraw its agitation unless the state government adheres to strict implementation of the Supreme Court guidelines.
"We will listen to their proposals. We will decide only after that," Deshpande said before the meeting began at the Sahyadri guest house in Mumbai.
"We have not taken any decision to stop our agitation of reciting the Hanuman Chalisa in front of mosques that use loudspeakers and violate norms and peace. Our decision is not based on what happens at the all-party meeting. The government has called us to discuss this issue so we will are meeting them to discuss it," Deshpande said on his way to the Sahyadri guest house.
"They have called us to discuss the law and order situation and we will offer our cooperation to the government. But when one seeks cooperation it has to be done by everybody involved in solving this issue," Deshpande added.
As the all-party meet could not arrive at any concrete proposal on addressing the law and order situation in the state, after the meeting, Sardesai said, "Whatever Raj saheb declared earlier (at the April 2 Gudi Padwa rally) we will be going ahead with that programme."
"Either the government should strictly adhere to the Supreme Court order or we will play the Hanuman Chalisa (outside mosques)," Sardesai added.
"If you carefully read the Supreme Court order it has clearly specified the size, the shape and the decibel levels that blare out of loudspeakers. That's all we are asking of this government," the former MLA pointed out.
Has the MNS raised its aggression on issues associated with strident Hindutva keeping in mind the forthcoming elections to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation?
Is the MNS reading from the BJP's script?
"There is no question of trapping anybody on the backfoot on the issue of Hindutva. We are doing what needs to be done to expand our party. Obviously, it is our agenda. It has got nothing to do with the BJP. Our agitation against the indiscriminate use of loudspeakers is not executing anybody's script," avers Deshpande.
According to him, the issue of use of loudspeakers atop mosque is a social issue for the MNS. Deshpande refuses to accept that his party is executing the BJP's agenda.
"The BMC election has got nothing to do with our agitation. We have been raising this issue for quite some time. There is still some time for the BMC election. Raj saheb will answer all such questions in his speech on Maharashtra Day, May 1," says Deshpande.
Deshpande also expressed confidence that the MNS's actions will not affect the law and order situation in Mumbai or Maharashtra.
"We don't feel that the law and order situation will turn bad because of our agitation. This is a social cause; it is not a religious or political issue for us. The issue is strict implementation of the laws of the land and it's the duty of the state government to do that," says Deshpande.
Madhav Bhandari, the BJP's chief spokesperson in Maharashtra, refutes the 'MNS-playing-BJP-script' narrative.
"This is rubbish. No political party runs scripts given by some other political party," says Bhandari.
Ask Bhandari if the BJP is letting Raj Thackeray hog all the limelight and itself taking a backseat in the run-up to the BMC election and he snaps: "We have been exposing the Shiv Sena's corruption in local wards in all the Vidhan Sabha seats in Mumbai with documentary evidence. As a result, Shiv Sainiks attacked BJP workers during all such meetings."
" Is that what you mean by saying the BJP is taking a backseat for the BMC election? You (the media) may want to write your script, but we are following our script. The BJP doesn't get distracted by such talk; we will stick to our strategy."
"As per our internal survey we are winning BMC single-handedly," declares Bhandari.
So, where does that leave the MNS and its loudspeaker agitation?
"Listen to saheb's speech on May 1," says Nandgaonkar.