As the Maharashtra police strained to maintain peace in the wake of MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s call to remove loudspeakers from mosques, Minister of State for Home Satej Patil on Wednesday expressed concern that Mr. Thackeray’s agitation could inhibit investment in the State and push Maharashtra back by five to six years.
Mr. Patil, a senior Congress leader who is the Guardian Minister of Kolhapur district, urged the MNS chief to do a re-think on his loudspeaker agitation.
“While the State government has taken the necessary steps to maintain law and order, such agitations will only serve to heighten the prevalent problems of inflation, unemployment and prohibit investment from coming to Maharashtra,” said Mr. Patil.
Remarking that all measures were in place to preclude any untoward incident, Mr. Patil said that 87 units of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) had been deployed by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government along with 30,000 home guards to handle the situation.
“The people of Maharashtra have shown that they do not pay heed to the politics of polarisation. By nipping this agitation, we have succeeded in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the state and sent out a strong message across the country. Instead of giving provocative speeches for his own political benefit, Raj Thackeray should think of ways to resolve the real problems faced by the people,” said the Minister.
Meanwhile, MNS workers found trying to play the Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers in front of mosques were detained and taken into preventive custody at different places across the State, including Pune and Nashik.
In Pune, nine MNS workers including MNS state secretary Ajay Shinde were detained when they came out of a Hanuman temple after performing aarti.
Before being detained, Mr. Shinde told reporters that maha aartis and recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa were being done at various places in the city as per directions of Mr. Thackeray.
Meanwhile, another senior police official said most of the mosques in Pune, adhering to Supreme Court guidelines, had refrained from playing the early morning azan on loudspeakers.
Assuring that the situation in the city was normal, Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta said since Tuesday evening, the entire police force, including senior officers, were out on the streets to prevent untoward incidents.
