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For Shiv Sena, Shivaji Park 'as holy as' Ram
Janmabhoomi
Tuesday November 27, 2012 10:40:53 PM,
IANS
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Related Article |
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Controversy rages over Thackeray memorial
The controversy over a memorial for late Shiv Sena chief Bal
Thackeray continued Sunday with party leader Manohar Joshi
insisting on Shivaji Park here as the location and Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan citing problems in doing so. »
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Mumbai:
A Shiv Sena
leader Tuesday gave a new twist to the demands for a Bal Thackeray
memorial at the Shivaji Park in the heart of the city, claiming
that the late party chief's cremation site is "as holy as" the Ram
Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya.
The party's Rajya Sabha member and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said
this when asked about the demands from various quarters for a
memorial to Thackeray who died Nov 17 and was cremated the next
day at Shivaji Park with lakhs attending the state funeral.
"It has become a land of faith for the Shiv Sainiks and after
Balasaheb's cremation, it is considered as holy as Ram Janmabhoomi,"
Raut said.
In the same vein, he said: "But we do not consider it as a
memorial. Whatever structure is there will remain undisturbed."
On the issue of the memorial, Raut diplomatically reiterated party
executive president Uddhav Thackeray's remark last week that "the
ordinary Shiv Sainiks would decide where the memorial shall come
up".
Reacting sharply to this, Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson
Nawab Malik asked the Shiv Sena "not to capitalise or politicise"
Thackeray's death.
Thackeray, 86, was cremated before nearly two million mourners.
The cremation site at Shivaji Park has become a landmark of sorts
with hundreds of people coming to pay homage to Thackeray,
offering prayers, flowers, and a band of loyal Shiv Sainiks
maintaining a round-the-clock vigil and tending to an "amar jyot"
installed there.
Shortly after Thackeray's death, senior leader and former Lok
Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi demanded that a memorial to the Sena
supremo should come up at Shivaji Park.
Last Sunday, Joshi said the Sena would construct the memorial at
Shivaji Park despite opposition. His statement was criticised by
the Maharashtra Congress.
Even as local groups have opposed the memorial, the state
government has not taken any decision on the issue.
The Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is prepared
to erect an appropriate memorial at the mayor's bungalow, near
Shivaji Park, considered by many as a via media.
Having historical and cultural significance, the 28-acre Shivaji
Park, in Dadar, close the Arabian Sea, is also considered the
cradle of Indian cricket which has nurtured some of the top
cricketers of the country.
In its 87-year-old history, the Shivaji Park has witnessed some of
the biggest political rallies, meetings, cultural programmes and
other activities, including a victory rally addressed by former
prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri after the India-Pakistan war of
1965.
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