Politics, cricket and culture go together in Mumbai's Shivaji Park

The grand Shivaji Park at Dadar in Mumbai has its own history. Whether it is about gathering of freedom fighters during the Independence struggle or being the focal point of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement or being the cradle of cricket with players like Sachin Tendulkar getting their first lessons, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park has its own importance in Mumbai.

The Shivaji Park is in focus again after the two rival factions of Shiv Sena - led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde - applied for permissions for the annual Dussehra rally.

The park includes a grand statue of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a Ganesh temple called Udyan Ganesh and a small memorial of late Balasaheb Thackeray.

Whether it is during the British Raj or post-Independence, the park has witnessed significant events.

“The Shiv Sena and Shivaji Park go together," says veteran political analyst and writer Prakash Akolkar.

The bust of late Meenatai Thackeray, popularly called Masaheb, is on one edge of the ground.

In 1995, when the Shiv Sena-BJP came to power, Manohar Joshi and late Gopinath Munde were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively. Balasaheb was seated among the audience and so were Uddhav and his now estranged nephew and MNS president Raj Thackeray. Twenty years down the line, Uddhav took oath as Chief Minister at the same place in November 2019.

Balasaheb took up the cause of 'Marathi manoos' and Hindutva from this ground too.

Besides Thackeray, several leaders including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, socialist George Fernandes, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav had addressed rallies here.

The 1,13,000 sq mts (28 acres) open space is significant for Indian cricket as well.

Some of the legendary cricketers who have played here are Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ajit Wadekar, Vijay Manjrekar, Ramakant Desai, Balu Gupte, Dilip Sardesai, Ashok Wadekar, Padmakar Shivalkar, Eknath Solkar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Chandrakant Pandit, Lalchand Rajput, Sandeep Patil, Ajit Agarkar, Pravin Amre, Vinod Kambli and Sanjay Manjrekar.