Hanuman Chalisa row: Who are Maharashtra lawmakers Ravi Rana, Navneet Kaur Rana?
Shiv Sena vs Rana: A power couple in Maharashtra politics, Ravi Rana and Navneet Kaur, rose to prominence as independent candidates by garnering support of other Independents and smaller parties.
Maharashtra lawmakers Ravi Rana and Navneet Kaur - at the centre of the 'Hanuman Chalisa' row in Mumbai that has led to crowds outside chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's home 'Matoshree' - rose to prominence with support from other independent candidates and local political outfits. The couple made headline this week after declaring they would recite the 'Hanuman Chalisa' outside 'Matoshree', alleging Uddhav Thackeray had 'forgotten Hindutva'.
Security was heightened outside 'Matoshree' Friday evening and Saturday morning, with workers and leaders from the ruling Shiv Sena standing 'guard' alongide police.
Sena workers also launched a counter-protest outside Rana and Kaur's home, triggering accusations from the couple that Uddhav Thackeray had directed them to 'attack our residence' and that the chief minister 'only knows how to throw people in jail'.
Who are Ravi Rana and Navneet Kaur Rana?
Ravi Rana is an independent candidate and three-time MLA from Badnera constituency in Amravati district. He had extended his support to the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government that was in power between 2014 and 2019. He has accused the current government - led by the Shiv Sena in alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party - of stoking communal disharmony in the state.
Rana is married to Navneet Kaur, an independent Lok Sabha MP from Amravati. She is also a former model and actress who has appeared in six music videos and several Kannada, Punjabi and Telugu movies.
The husband-wife duo, both 36, is seen as one of the more influential couples in Maharashtra politics over the past decade. They are also keen followers of yoga guru Baba Ramdev.
Given Rana's past alliance with the BJP and Kaur's on-and-off tension with the Sena, they managed to garner the support of independents and smaller groups after the 2019 election - in which Maharashtra witnessed a fractured mandate - although they were not successful.
What is the 'Hanuman Chalisa' row?
It all started when Sena's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said the 'Hanuman Chalisa' and the festival of Ram Navami were matters of faith and not occasions for 'stunts'.
On Friday, Rana told reporters he had demanded Uddhav Thackeray read the 'Hanuman Chalisa' on Hanuman Jayanti "to rid Maharashtra of crises and attain peace for the state," but claimed the chief minister had 'refused'.
His demand followed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's 'ultimatum' over the azaan row - he warned the state to remove loudspeakers from mosques by May 3 or said his party would play the 'Hanuman Chalisa' on loudspeakers outside mosques.
The BJP supported Raj Thackeray's demand.
"We will go there ('Matoshree') to read the 'Hanuman Chalisa' at nine tomorrow. We will cooperate with the police. I have asked our workers to ensure law and order is not disturbed in Mumbai. Police and people should not be troubled,” Rana said on Friday.
To this, Raut had termed the duo as 'characters in a nautanki'. "People like Rana are characters in the nautanki (drama) and stunt of the BJP. People don't take this stunt seriously," he said.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai police has served a notice under CrPC section 149 to the Rana couple, asking them not to disturb the law and order situation.