BJP, MNS play politics over ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ chants

Inspector General of Police, Law and Order, Suhas Warke said that loudspeakers can only be used after seeking permission, as per the rules.

Mumbai: Politics over the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ chants heated up in Maharashtra on Friday, as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leaders promised to recite the prayer over loudspeakers outside temples across the state on Saturday to celebrate the birth of Hindu god, Hanuman, even as some made communally-coloured comments about the use of loudspeakers outside mosques to recite the Azaan, a call to prayer in the Islam faith.

While MNS chief Raj Thackeray is slated to hold a “maha arati” in Pune on Saturday, BJP leader Mohit Kamboj took to social media platform Twitter to write: “(…) Hanuman Chalisa - Noise Pollution, Azaan on loudspeaker - Prayer Right!” (HT)

While MNS chief Raj Thackeray is slated to hold a “maha arati” in Pune on Saturday, BJP leader Mohit Kamboj took to social media platform Twitter to write: “(…) Hanuman Chalisa - Noise Pollution, Azaan on loudspeaker - Prayer Right!” Khamboj had earlier said that he would distribute 10,000 loudspeakers among temples to play the religious hymn of Hanuman Chalisa, , a set of chants addressed to the Hindu god, Hanuman, on Saturday, and appealed to housing societies in the state’s capital to play the prayer in lifts and on loudspeakers.

“[Mohit Kamboj] is distributing loudspeakers in his personal capacity. If someone wants to undertake a religious programme, no one should object to it,” BJP legislator Atul Bhatkhalkar said, adding that Khamboj had the support of his BJP in his actions.

Inspector General of Police, Law and Order, Suhas Warke said that loudspeakers can only be used after seeking permission, as per the rules. “We have given instructions to take preventive action wherever required,” he said.

The Mumbai police beefed up security arrangements and deployed additional police force in communally sensitive pockets, including outside mosques around the city. The police have also been instructed to hold meetings with the Mohalla committees, peace groups, and other religious, social and cultural groups to enlist them in maintaining peace. Additional security personnel have been kept on standby and all intelligence collection units of Anti-terrorism Cell and Special Branch have been asked to monitor social media platforms for posts that may cause communal tension, and to take them down and act against those who circulate such content.

Reacting to statements by MNS and BJP leaders, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar who was touring Jalgaon in north Maharashtra on Friday said that he was concerned about the social harmony in the state. “If a leader is taking an extreme stand and those who are ruling the country extend their support to him directly or indirectly then it is concerning. This creates a question over social harmony to which I am more concerned,” he said.

“No matter what, Maharashtra should stand united. Social harmony must be maintained between people from different languages and religious backgrounds. Maharashtra has a tradition of maintaining communal harmony but now I’m concerned as if we are deviating from it,” he added.

To counter the MNS-BJP plans, political parties of the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition government comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress, will hold their own events.

The NCP will organise a ‘Hanuman aarti’ and ‘Roza iftar’ on Saturday in Pune. “The city and district units of the party are holding a joint convention at Dudhane Lawns at Karve Nagar in Pune, outside which there is a Hanuman temple where ‘sarvajanik aarti’ will be conducted and after that an iftar programe has been organised. Our message is clear. We all are together,” said Mahesh Tapase, chief spokesperson, NCP. “Lord Hanuman does not belong to a party and keeping the country united is the need of the hour,” he added.

The Shiv Sena will also hold a “maha aarti” at a Hanuman temple in Dadar. Several local offices of the party will also hold similar events across Mumbai.

The police department has already placed a strong bandobast of 200,000 police personnel and 38,000 home guards across the state as a spate of festivals across religions take place over the weekend, including Mahaveer Jayanti, Hanuman Jayanti, and Easter Sunday. Apart from this, 100 companies of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) are kept on alert.

Earlier this month while addressing a rally in Shivaji Park, the Marathi heartland of Mumbai, he had given an ultimatum to the state government to remove loudspeakers on mosques by May 3, failing which, he said, his party workers would play the Hanuman Chalisa.

However, matters heated up on Friday as other political leaders also commented on the issue.

Maharashtra environment minister and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray took a jibe at the MNS and asked if they would also use the loudspeakers to tell the people about issues like inflation. “The loudspeakers can also be used to tell people about the rising inflation and prices of petrol, diesel and CNG and why this state of affairs has come about. There is no need to go into what happened 60 years ago, but why this is happening over the past two to three years,” he said.

Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said the MNS changed its political stance frequently from taking a pro-Marathi position to praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then lauding Sharad Pawar and criticising BJP-led Union government. “Raj Thackeray is now trying to sow the seeds of division in society by threatening to play the Hanuman Chalisa before mosques if they do not pull down loudspeakers installed on them,” she said.

In Amravati, independent MP Navneet Kaur Rana and her husband Ravi Rana, a MLA, will hold a Hanuman Chalisa recital in the town. The Rana couple, which supports the BJP, will also distribute loudspeakers to temples to play the hymn and the Sunderkand.

“’Uddhav Thackeray [Maharashtra chief minister] should recite Hanuman Chalisa tomorrow on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti at Matoshree [Thackeray’s private residence]. If the Chief Minister has forgotten the thoughts and vision of [Shiv Sena founder and Thackeray’s father] Balasaheb Thackeray, reciting the Hanuman Chalisa will help him remember them. If he doesn’t do that, we will recite Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree,” Rana, with a saffron scarf draped around his neck, said in a video statement on Friday.

Kishori Pednekar, a Shiv Sena leader and the former Mumbai mayor, hit back at Rana and said: “We, Shiv Sainiks, are still alive. We dare you to come to Matoshree and then you will see what Shiv Sainiks are made of. Prayers should be done at home.”

Speaking in Jalgaon, Pawar said that both the BJP and the MNS may join hands as both wish to come to power. “As the MVA, we are trying to go to polls for the upcoming state assembly together, in order to provide a stable government and maintain social harmony. MVA’s unity will be in the interest of the state,” he said.

MNS general secretary Sandeep Deshpande said that on Saturday, Raj Thackeray would attend a Hanuman Chalisa recital and prayer in Pune. The event will take place at a Hanuman temple in the Khalkar Talim Chowk near the Alka Talkies.

Political analysts said that the stand taken by the MNS chief was aimed towards expanding their political base for the upcoming civic polls.

Senior journalist and political analyst Jaideo Dole noted that several political parties in the past had objected to loudspeakers on masjids. This campaign by the MNS is aimed at the civic polls due later this year in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Aurangabad, and was a last-ditch effort by the MNS, which has faced severe electoral reverses in the past, to stay relevant.

“The MNS wants to go closer to the BJP (using the plank of Hindutva). But this is a suicidal instinct. (In the long-term) those parties which have allied with the BJP have been subsumed by it. (For now) the MNS seems to be like an organization implementing the religious agenda of the BJP… and the Sangh Parivar,” he added.

An MNS leader admitted that this was their way of making common cause with the BJP on the issue of Hindutva during the local body polls due this year.

“This will do away with the impediment in the BJP’s way,” he said, noting that earlier, a hindrance in the way of an alliance or informal understanding between the two parties was the anti-Hindi speaking migrant stance of the MNS.