An incident in Hotel J W Marriot accidentally brought arch rivals Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) together on the issue of Marathi pride.
Parties protest to J W Marriot after it denies entry to some actors
MUMBAI: An incident in Hotel J W Marriot accidentally brought arch rivals Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) together on the issue of Marathi pride on Sunday.
Both the parties protested in front of the hotel, which had denied some leading Marathi film actors entry to its pub on Friday night because they didn’t wear shoes. It was an NCP corporator, who had batted for the actors first.
Actor Sanjay Narvekar, Santosh Juvekar and director Nishikant Kamat were denied entry at elite pub Enigma at J W Marriot in Juhu, because they were wearing kolhapuri chappals. The hotel rules are that no one can enter Enigma without shoes.
Activists of the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS), a trade union affiliated to the Shiv Sena, and MNS gathered outside J W Marriot in different groups. BKS secretary Kiran Pawaskar held discussion with the management. While the MNS activists led by divisional president Kishor Mayekar threw kolhapuris at the hotel.
BKS president Suryakant Mahadik alleged the hotel restrained the actors from entering the pub because they were Marathi.
He said, “No rule allows insulting someone. The hotel staff made derogatory remarks about kolhapuri chappal, which is pride of Maharashtra.” Mayekar echoed Mahadik and demanded an apology from the hotel management.
The hotel officials have refuted the charges. An official said, “Our staff did not make any derogatory remarks. We had offered the actors shoes to wear. But they refused and left the hotel.”
Interestingly, after they denied entry the actors had called on NCP corporator from Thane Pratap Sarnaik, who was at a hotel in Andheri.
Sarnaik said, “I requested the hotel staff to allow the actors entry in ‘enigma’ as they were the superstars. I also asked them whether they would have denied entry to Amitabh Bachchan or Shahrukh Khan had they arrived in chappals.
But the staff was adamant to the rule. Yes, they offered shoes to the actors. But the actors refused as they did not want to wear the shoes used by someone else.”
The MNS activists submitted a memorandum to the hotel management and demanded to change the rule that no one can enter enigma without shoes.
t_kiran@dnaindia.net
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