What does it take to bring the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on the same side? A museum, a playground and a fashion show provided a potent mix for a political drama that saw the two rival parties match step with each other.
Mumbai’s Dr. Bhau Daji Lad museum, adjacent to the famous Byculla Zoo, became the latest target of these warring outfits. Last month, things came to a head when the Raj Thackeray-led party protested and forced out from the museum the grand finale of the Lakme India Fashion Week, which was intended to be a fund-raiser.
What began as an MNS campaign against the proposed conversion of a museum ground into a parking lot soon festered into a high-octane campaign against its honorary director Tasneem Mehta, credited with reviving the heritage structure from derelict state.
A proposed expansion plan presented by the museum trust and the city corporation marked a nearby vacant plot (used as a playground) as a parking lot. The MNS was quick to seize the opportunity and opposed the plan in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) ruled by the Sena and the BJP. Local MNS corporator Samita Naik held a ballot for residents, generating a strong local response with over 6,000 votes in favour of the playground.
The Sena, not willing to be outdone by the MNS, went against its own administration and joined issue with its rival.
After the MNS flexed its muscle by targeting the show, the Sena sought to assert itself by jumping on the bandwagon. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, the BMC summarily revoked the tripartite agreement putting Ms. Mehta on six months’ notice. Mayor Snehal Ambekar of the Sena alleged irregularities in the financial accounts of the museum.
