Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has increased the security of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray after he allegedly received death threats for his campaign against loudspeakers atop mosques
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has increased the security of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray after he allegedly received death threats for his campaign against loudspeakers atop mosques.
Though Raj still retains the Y+ security, the number of police personnel have been increased.
The MNS chief has also shifted to ‘Shivtirth’ his new residence which is just near Krishna Kunj, his previous house.
This decision to beef up security was taken by state home minister Dilip Walse Patil after an MNS delegation led by MNS legislator Bala Nandgaonkar met him on Tuesday.
Nandgaonkar had warned the state government against ignoring these threats. “The whole of Maharashtra will burn if Raj Thackeray’s hair is touched,” warned Nandgaonkar. He claimed that he received a threat at his Lalbaug office to kill both Raj and Nandgaonkar.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule had demanded that additional security should be provided to Raj Thackeray. “I will personally ask the Maharashtra Government to not just double but triple the security for Raj Thackeray,” said Sule.
After a series of defeats in both the 2014 and 2019 elections, Raj Thackeray adopted Hindutva by abandoning his ‘sons of soil’ campaign. In his April 2, Gudi Padva speech, he first raised the issue of broadcasting ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ outside mosques having loudspeakers. This was again repeated in his Thane speech later on April 12, wherein he gave an ultimatum to the State Government to remove them by May 3 to avoid law and order problems.
However, the campaign fizzled out on May 4 due to the deft handling by the state government. It cracked down on MNS workers and convinced the mosques not to broadcast the morning Azaan on loudspeakers as well as lower the volume of the loudspeakers.
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