Raj Thackeray dares action on Dahi Handi mandals

MNS chief Raj Thackeray has challenged the state government to take action against the Dahi Handi mandals that violated a Supreme Court directive during the recent Gokulashtami festival celebrations. “The state government does not have the guts to take action against Dahi Handi mandals,” he said.

Mr Thackeray’s comments have come after the police filed FIRs against 16 mandals associated with the MNS in Thane for flouting the safety norms set by the Supreme Court with regards to the formation of human pyramid and the age limit of participants in dahi handi.

The MNS chief on Sunday visited Dahi Handi mandals in Thane, against which complaints have been registered and praised them too. Speaking on the possibility of action against these mandals, he said state government does not possess the courage to act against them.

“Was the Dahi Handi broken by forming nine layers ” he asked. The people who formed human pyramids of nine layers, which exceeded the height restriction of 20 feet imposed by the court, did not break the Dahi Handi at that height.

The court had only directed to break dahi handi till 20 feet and it was complied with, he added.

Mr Thackeray had openly criticised the court order and asked why only Hindu festivals were targeted. He had asked the Dahi Handi mandals to celebrate the festival with full vigour, saying he would “take care” of any legal issues that arose.

“The festivals should be celebrated like festivals only. The courts should not cross their limits. They are there for giving judgments, not passing remarks,” Mr Thackeray said.

“On the Dahi Handi issue, the court asked, ‘are you going to win medals in Olympics ’ It was none of their business. The comments had nothing to do with that issue. In Uttarakhand floods too, the court had directed to send 200 helicopters for rescue works. What do they have to do with this People have elected a government, which will look after these issues,” the MNS chief said.

Speaking on the reports of builders denying flats to non-vegetarians, Mr Thackeray slammed the BJP for “creating” such issues. “It’s a ploy to reduce the Marathi population and increase the number of non-Maharastrian corporators and MLAs in the city. By resorting to issues like veg and non-veg, Jain Mandirs, the BJP is trying to woo Gujarati voters. The CM has even started writing tweets in Gujarati to pamper them,” he said.