The statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Shivaji Park in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: Today News 24
A potential showdown between the two rival Shiv Sena factions over the venue for the upcoming October 24 Dussehra rally was averted after CM Eknath Shinde’s ruling Sena faction backed down from staking claim to hold the rally at Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park.
Mr. Shinde’s faction on Tuesday withdrew its application submitted to the Mumbai civic body – the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) – seeking permission to hold the Dussehra rally at Dadar’s Shivaji Park, thus paving the way for Uddhav Thackeray’s rival Sena (UBT) to hold its rally there on October 24.
While the Shinde faction hailed the Chief Minister’s “magnanimity” in taking a step back and defusing a potential flashpoint, the Uddhav Thackeray camp taunted its rival by urging them to hold their Dussehra rally at the party office of Mr. Shinde’s ally – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Shinde camp MLA Sada Sarvankar, who withdrew the application, later said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the ruling party was taking the step on Mr. Shinde’s urging and that it was a “conciliatory move” to ensure that the Hindu festival was celebrated with enthusiasm.
“Dussehra is an important festival of Hindus! Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray hasd continuously given his fiery Hindutva addresses from Shivtirth [as Shivaji Park is known to Sena cadre] for the last 50 years. So, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde took a conciliatory stance by announcing that the Dussehra gathering would be held in the spirit of avoiding disputes between each other during Hindu festivals.”
Mr. Shinde, speaking to reporters said that his faction’s rally was likely to take place at the Azad Maidan or some other place as work on the Bullet Train project was presently on at the Bandra-Kurla Complex grounds, that had served as venue for the Dussehra rally last year following the split in the Sena.
Thackeray camp leader Anil Parab said staging the Dussehra rally was the right of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT).
“We were ready to go to court if the BMC did not grant us permission. We had presented our case strongly before the civic body, telling them that since the founding of the party in 1966, the Dussehra rally had been held at Shivaji Park till Balasaheb’s death in 2012. After that, this tradition has been continued by his son Uddhav Thackeray till 2022,” said Mr. Parab.
While the annual Dussehra rally at Dadar’s Shivaji Park has always been inextricably associated with the Thackeray family, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s intra-party revolt which split the Sena in June last year, has now led to the competing factions squabbling over the Sena’s hallowed venue.
In October 2022, the State witnessed a similar political face-off between the two factions over holding the Dussehra Rally at Shivaji Park.
After much drama, which saw the BMC not give permission to either the Thackeray or Shinde camps, Mr. Thackeray was finally granted the right to the Shivaji Park venue by the Bombay High Court.
This time, the Shinde faction had claimed the right to hold the Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park on grounds that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had already awarded the party name and symbol to Mr. Shinde’s group, making them the ‘real’ Shiv Sena, as per the Shinde camp leaders.
