Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, on Monday, 25 April, said that if people wanted to resort to "Dadagiri", the Shiv Sena knows "how to crumble it". Taking a dig at MP Navneet Rana and her husband and MLA Ravi Rana, Thackeray further said that if "you want to recite Hanuman Chalisa, call and come home".
This comes amid the ongoing Hanuman Chalisa row where the politician couple had earlier said that they would recite Hanuman Chalisa outside the CM's residence on Saturday, 23 April, if he did not chant it on Hanuman Jayanti.
"It's being said that we've ignored Hindutva. Is Hindutva a dhoti or what? Our Hindutva is 'Gada Dhari' like Lord Hanuman's Gada. If you want to recite Hanuman Chalisa, call and come home. But if you resort to 'Dadagiri' we know how to crumble it," Thackeray said.
"Many people have acidity in their stomachs due to the developments taking place in Mumbai. They only want to speak on loudspeakers. I don’t care about them at all," Thackeray further said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said, "If you wish to recite Hanuman Chalisa, then chant it at your home. Don't you have your homes? Many people are trying to spoil the atmosphere."
What Happened?
The Ranas were booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code after they had announced their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside CM Thackeray's residence 'Matoshree'.
While they called off their plan, the Ranas were taken into custody by the police and produced before a magistrate's court in Mumbai on Sunday, 24 April. The duo claimed that they were not under any kind of pressure or scared by the Maha Vikas Aghadi or the Shiv Sena but were dropping their plans in honour of the PM's trip to Mumbai.
They applied for bail on the same day after being remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
On Monday, the Bombay High Court dismissed the petition of Navneet and Ravi Rana for quashing the FIR registered against them for allegedly resisting arrest over the row to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside the Maharashtra chief minister's house.
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