Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray on Sunday, 22 May, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring Uniform Civil Code in the country at the earliest and bring a law on population control. He also requested the PM to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar.
"I request the prime minister to bring Uniform Civil Code at the earliest, also bring a law on population control and change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar," Thackeray said at an MNS rally at Ganesh Kala Krida Rang Manch in Pune.
Thackeray also spoke of farmers and water crisis. He said farmers are dying by suicide and there is no water in many cities for over 10 days and these issues don't seem to be impacting anyone.
"Despite this we did not get angry and that's why our country was ruled by outsiders hand for over 900 years."Raj Thackeray
The rally at Ganesh Kala Krida Rang Manch was permitted by the police under 13 conditions including directions to all the speakers at the rally to not make any communally sensitive, hurtful, or provocative statements.
The police had also asked the people attending the rally to avoid sloganeering and not take out vehicle rallies before or after the main rally event.
Heavy forces including the SRPF have been deployed for the event.
“Necessary police deployment has been made in and around the auditorium and surrounding areas. Separate arrangements have been made for parking. Traffic police teams have been deployed to ensure that there is no hindrance to the routine traffic flow. We are keeping a close watch on all the activities.”Senior Official, Pune City Police told to The Indian Express.
On Friday, Thackeray announced that he had temporarily deferred his forthcoming visit to Ayodhya on 5 June 2022. The decision came amid protests by certain Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and activists in Uttar Pradesh and even other northern states. They were demanding Thackeray's unconditional apology for the treatment meted out to north Indians during the MNS agitation in 2008.
Talking about the same, he said, "Two days ago, I tweeted about postponing my Ayodhya visit. I intentionally gave the statement to allow everyone to give their reactions. Those who were against my Ayodhya visit were trying to trap me, but I decided not to fall into this controversy."
He said if he did decide to go ahead with the visit and there were any untoward fallout during the same, the Uttar Pradesh administration would have booked his party workers under criminal cases and kept them in jails.
"I am prepared to take criticism over my decision, but I am not willing to risk my workers and out them in such precarious situations," he added.
Thackrey also called CM Uddhav Thackeray's statements on Hindutva, "childish". He asked if Uddhav has ever been charged for protesting and criticised him and the Shiv Sena for doing little about the Aurangabad renaming issue.
Talking about the Hanuman Chalisa row, Thackeray said, "After I asked my workers to play Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers, the Rana couple (Ravi and Navneet Rana) said they would recite Hanuman Chalisa at Matoshree. Is Matoshree a mosque? Everyone knows what happened between Shiv Sainiks and the Rana couple later."
(This story contains inputs from The Indian express, Times of India.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)