Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said his party Shiv Sena could have held its Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai, but as the head of the government he decided not to go ahead with the plan for the sake of maintaining law and order.
The statement came hours after the ruling Shiv Sena withdrew its application submitted to the Mumbai civic body seeking permission for a rally on Dussehra at the iconic ground in Dadar, thus avoiding a potential face-off with the rival faction led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, which, too, wants to use the sprawling site for its programme the same day.
Taking a dig at the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) headed by Thackeray, Shinde said if the Congress is 'pampered' from the ground which gave a call for Hindutva, then it cannot be the Shiv Sena's Dussehra rally.
The Congress is an ally of the Shiv Sena (UBT). The Shinde-led Sena and the Shiv Sena (UBT) had both sought the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) nod for their respective Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park ground on October 24.
"We, too, could have held a rally at Shivaji Park, but as the head of the government, I did not want to endanger law and order situation," Shinde said in a post on social media site X.
He said thoughts of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray don't need Shivaji Park for their propagation.
"What is spoken is more important than who speaks. Who is going to listen to the same rant? We will take his (Bal Thackeray) ideals wherever we go," Shinde said.
The BMC had received an application on August 1 from Shiv Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar and another one from the Shiv Sena (UBT) on August 7 seeking permission for their respective rally at the sprawling venue.
On Tuesday afternoon, Sarvankar said the Shiv Sena's application is being withdrawn on Shinde's directive.
A senior Shiv Sena leader said the move was to avoid further conflict as the battle would have again reached courts.
"Thoughts and ideas propagated during Dussehra rally is more important than the venue," the leader said.
The leader said the venue for the Shiv Sena rally could be in south Mumbai.
Mahim MLA Sarvankar said Shinde told him both Azad Maidan and Cross Maidan in south Mumbai have been reserved for the rally.
Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray started the tradition of holding his party's Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park in the late 1960s, and it continued year after year.
But last year, after the Shiv Sena split, both the rival groups sought to hold their respective Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park ground, and the BMC denied permission to both citing law and order concerns.
The matter then landed in the Bombay High Court which granted permission to the Thackeray-led Sena faction to hold its rally at Shivaji Park (on October 5, 2022). The Shinde group held its event at the MMRDA ground in the Bandra-Kurla Complex on the same day.