The arrest of MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) leader Mahendra Bhanushali for playing Hanuman Chalisa without permission is the latest in a series of anti-Hindu moves undertaken by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government. The Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government that earlier ordered the removal of saffron flags appears to have been offended by the Hindu prayer dedicated to Bhagwan Hanuman.
Bhanushali had reportedly installed loudspeakers outside the Ghatkopar MNS office to play Hanuman Chalisa. The move came after MNS chief Raj Thackeray had warned that if loudspeakers blaring azan weren’t removed, the party would set up loudspeakers to play Hanuman Chalisa.
“They’ve taken away my amplifier. But I’d like to say, in the coming times, ‘Jai Shree Ram’ will be played on loudspeakers. No one takes permission, it isn’t just me. So action should be taken on everyone if it’s taken on me. The police did their job. Raj (Thackeray) Sahab says, never say anything to the police. Action should be taken wherever loudspeakers are used”, Bhanushali said after being arrested.
In his Gudi Padwa address to party workers on April 2, MNS chief Raj Thackeray had warned that they would put up double speakers outside mosques and play Hanuman Chalisa if the government didn’t get loudspeakers in mosques and madrasas removed.
“I don’t oppose one’s right to pray, but the loudspeakers on the mosques must be removed. I request the government to get them removed. Otherwise, I tell this right now, we will put double loudspeakers to chant Hanuman Chalisa right in front of those mosques. Which religion mentions loudspeaker? Was there any loudspeaker when your religion was invented?”, the MNS chief said in his speech.
“He also said that if the police properly check the mosques and madrasas in the slums of Mumbai, they will get to know many things. He also underlined the changing demographics of Mumbai and other places of Maharashtra and alleged that so many Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh have come and settled here”, reported OpIndia.
While the Mumbai police were quick to act against Bhanushali, it has repeatedly failed to get loudspeakers removed from mosques and madrasas despite court orders. The MVA government earlier got the police to issue notice to the mother of Karishma Bhosale, the Hindu girl who had complained against a mosque in her neighbourhood blaring the azan. Even at that time neither the Shiv Sena nor the Thackerays who pride themselves on standing up for the rights of the ‘Marathi manus’ came forward to help Karishma or her family.
It is probably time to remind Mumbai Police yet again to act against illegal loudspeakers in mosques as per orders of the Mumbai High Court as well. If the police, and by extension the MVA government, can act against MNS then nothing should stop it from getting illegal loudspeakers in mosques removed.
