Maharashtra All-Party Delegation To Meet Centre Over Loudspeaker Row

This comes after Raj Thackeray demanded that mosques no longer be allowed to broadcast the azaan.

The meeting came amid a controversy raised by Raj Thackeray, demanding that mosques no longer be allowed to broadcast the azan on loudspeaker.

(Photo: Samarth Grover/The Quint)

Maharashtra Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Monday, 25 April, announced after an all-party meeting over the loudspeaker row, that an all-party delegation will meet the central government and hold discussions over a solution to this issue.

Meanwhile, state Home Minister Dilip Walse stated that it is the government's responsibility to maintain law and order and police action will be taken if somebody violates it.

If the Centre makes a national-level rule over loudspeakers, issues won't come up in states, he added.

The decision came after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray announced to skip the all-party meeting called by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray amid a controversy over the use of loudspeakers at religious places.

Minutes after Thackeray’s refusal to attend the meeting, Uddhav Thackeray and former CM and Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis also announced that they would not be attending the meeting.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Dilip Walse and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar are set to chair the meeting.

The meeting comes amid a controversy raised by Raj Thackeray, demanding that mosques no longer be allowed to broadcast the azan using loudspeakers. He had also given an ultimatum, saying that if any mosque continued to use loudspeakers after 3 May, Hindus will broadcast Hanuman Chalisa via loudspeakers at the same time.

‘Better To Fight Than to Communicate’: BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, stating the reason for not attending the meeting, said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not "go in view of what has happened in last few days. If someone has taken the role of Hitler, we felt it's better to fight instead of communicate," news agency ANI reported.

He claimed the BJP leaders are being implicated in fake cases. Fadnavis further said that whatever is happening in Mumbai is happening at the behest of the chief minister.

Further attacking the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, he added, the state government wants to crush and kill Opposition.

"Will Hanuman Chalisa be spoken in Pakistan, if not in Maharashtra? If sedition charges get imposed on Navneet and Ravi Rana, we will all chant Hanuman Chalisa. If the government has the guts, try charging us with sedition," he added.

Fadnavis also requested the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers to come and chant Hanuman Chalisa with him in front of his residence.

MP Navneet Rana and MLA Husband Slapped With Sedition

This also comes after the Maharashtra government invoked sedition charges against MP Navneet Rana and her husband, MLA Ravi Rana, for spreading hate and dislike against the government and the chief minister, thereby challenging the writ of the state machinery, public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat told the magistrate's court before which the couple was produced, on 24 April.

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 the chief minister's residence, 'Matoshree'.

However, the Ranas claimed that they had called off their plans to protest. The duo claimed that they were not under any kind of pressure or scared of 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 24 April, after being remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

'Amravati's Bunty & Babli Tried to Create a Ruckus': Sanjay Raut

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut called MP Navneet Rana and MLA Ravi Rana the 'Bunty and Babli' of Amravati.

"For the last few days, some bogus Hindutvawadis tried to spoil the atmosphere in Mumbai - 'Matoshree' (CM residence), reciting 'Hanuman Chalisa'. Amravati's Bunty & Babli tried to create a ruckus," he was quoted as saying by ANI.

"There was a conspiracy to do something different at the CM's residence. BJP tried to attack by keeping a gun on their shoulders. Navneet and Ravi Rana are the enemies of Maharashtra and behind them is the former CM (Devendra Fadnavis)," he added.