JOIN USCarry out nationwide loudspeaker ban: Uddhav Thackeray
Amid the high-voltage Azaan-Hanuman Chalisa political debate, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday asked the Centre to carry out a nationwide ban on loudspeakers.
“The ‘note-bandi’ (demonetisation) was nationwide….the (Covid-19) lockdown was nationwide….similarly, carry out ‘bhonga-bandi’ (loudspeaker ban) nationwide,” Thackeray, the Shiv Sena President, said during a virtual interaction with a Marathi newspaper.
According to Thackeray, the Supreme Court guidelines on loudspeakers were nationwide. “The Centre was one of the parties in the case…the Centre must come out with a notification,” Thackeray said.
He also said that recently state Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil convened an all-party meeting to discuss the issue. However, the BJP and Raj Thackeray-led MNS boycotted the meeting.
Raj, the estranged cousin of Uddhav, has set May 3 as the deadline to remove loudspeakers from mosques, or else he would play Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers five times a day.
When Thackeray pointed out that in Uttar Pradesh, the loudspeakers put up illegally in places of worship were brought down or decibel levels were set right, he referred to the Covid-19 crisis in the northern state during the second wave.
Thackeray also made it clear that Shiv Sena is committed to Hindutva.
On the issue of Centre-state relations, Thackeray said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking about VAT on fuel prices at a meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation was unexpected.
Thackeray also said he as a person still respects Modi. “I call him Narendra Bhai,” he said, however, added that politics are different. “In the aftermath of Gujarat riots, there was a Modi-hatao campaign. The late Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. Around that time (then Home Minister L K Advani) came to Mumbai. He asked Balasaheb (Thackeray) on this…Balasaheb flatly told him not to remove Modi from Gujarat else Hindutva moment would suffer a jolt,” he recalled.
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