After Pune police denied permission to Kothrud-based Sangam Tarun mandal to depict Afzal Khan killing and later revoked it, the police have yet again denied permission to Narendra Mitra mandal, based in Budhwar peth who were all set to stage the Maharashtra political crisis with live statues.
The mandal had decided to depict the state’s biggest political event of the year: Eknath Shinde’s rebellion from Shiv Sena and subsequent chief ministership.
As part of the theme, well-known artist and sculptor Pradip Taru prepared the statues of chief minister Shinde and former CM Uddhav Thackeray and prime minister Narendra Modi for the mandal’s theme. The mandal had submitted a proposal seeking permission to stage the Maharashtra political crisis, which was rejected by the police.
The mandal has instead been advised to go for a traditional theme for presentation.
Faraskhana police station incharge Rajendra Landge said, “The mandal had sought permission for flower decoration based on which we permitted. However, we came to know from our sources that they were going to depict political power tussles of Maharashtra. When we asked them about it, the mandal workers informed us that they will not stage the political statues during the festival. Alsom we have rejected their permission for staging tableau on political themes in the state.”