Loudspeaker row: Raj writes to CM over crackdown on MNS workers

In his letter, Raj taunted CM and said that power is not permanent and it will come and go and his cousin will not be an exception to it

Mumbai Irked with the crackdown on his party workers for their loudspeakers agitation, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has come down heavily on his cousin and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and has warned him to ‘not test his patience’.

He further taunted and said that every Maharashtrian know well who is behind such a repressive action (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

In his letter, Raj taunted Uddhav and said that power is not permanent and it will come and go and his cousin will not be an exception to it.

“My party workers were detained even before the agitation started. More than 24,000 MNS workers were issued notices, thousands were externed while many were jailed. What was their fault? The reason was that the government did not want the illegal loudspeakers atop mosques to be removed,” rued Raj.

He further said, “The way they are using all their strength against my workers…I wonder whether they have ever used such force against those mosques which harbour arms and terrorists. The manner in which the police are searching Sandeep Deshpande (MNS General Secretary who is on run since May 4) and others is akin to the search for Pakistan-trained terrorists or Hyderabad-based Razakars.”

He further taunted and said that every Maharashtrian know well who is behind such a repressive action. “Power comes and goes. No one has a copper plate of power, Not even you Uddhav Thackeray. Please do not try our patience,” he added.

Responding to MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s letter to the chief minister, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra transport minister Anil Parab said that the Sena has always maintained that power is not permanent and they use it to carry out works for the welfare of the public.

“We have always maintained that power is not permanent. So long as one has power, development work for the people must be carried out. Every five years, people decide who will rule the state and nobody rules permanently,” he said.

He added that the police worked with equal force to nab terrorists and protestors and that nobody could comment on it. In a veiled jibe at MNS leaders Sandeep Deshpande and Santosh Dhuri, who fled when the police tried to detain them on May 4, Parab said, “I cannot say anything to MNS workers, but I can speak about my party. Balasaheb used to tell us that whenever you plan a protest, be prepared to spend a night or two in the lockup, and that’s how we worked.”

The Sena minister, who is known to be close to Uddhav Thackeray, declined to comment on the opposition to Raj Thackeray’s Ayodhya visit by BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.