Shiv Sena wants norms to be relaxed for rallies

Under fire for breaching sound limits during its annual Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park grounds on Thursday, the Shiv Sena has claimed that it had taken necessary measures to stick to the norms. The Shiv Sena has also sought that these rules be relaxed for public meetings at the historic grounds, which has seen public rallies being addressed by stalwarts.

“Those complaining about the sound levels have nothing else to do. Some noise is inevitable when around 1.5 to 2 lakh people turn up for a rally. Those who complain are few in numbers and have an allergy to the Sena,” said local Shiv Sena MLA and vibhag pramukh Sada Sarvankar.

“We had dispersed loudspeakers through the crowd to ensure that the sound was distributed and ensure it was kept low... even then the people at the back were complaining they could not hear the speeches. It seems this included around 25 to 30% of the crowd,” he added. As the attendees at the rally complained about the poor acoustics and said they were unable to hear his speech, Uddhav had complained that such sound restrictions were imposed only on Hindu festivals.

Sarvankar said it was necessary to relax rules for public meetings at the Park. “The Shivaji Park is in a different league altogether. Many stalwarts from Maharashtra and the country have addressed rallies here... where else can political parties hold their public meetings?” questioned Sarvankar.

The Shiv Sena has a historic relationship with the precinct, around which the Marathi upper crust reside. 

Historic Relation

• Thursday’s rally was the 52th to be held there
• The rival MNS led by Uddhav’s estranged cousin Raj Thackeray was also formed at the Shivaji Park in 2006