Thousands of people attended a rally / procession held on Sunday by a right-wing organisation with controversial BJP legislator from Telangana, Thakur Raja Singh, aka T Raja, as the main speaker.
Bombay HC's intervention
The Bombay High Court had on Friday directed the Mira Road police to grant permission by imposing terms and conditions for holding a rally to be addressed by the MLA to commemorate the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In doing so, the HC quashed and set aside orders passed by police on February 19 and 20 refusing permission to the organisers to conduct the rally. The court also asked police to record the procession and the speeches at the congregation/rally.
On Sunday patriotic and religious songs were played at the procession, which started from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Kashimira and culminated at SK Stone Junction in Mira Road.
Accompanied by local legislator Geeta Jain, T Raja delivered a speech from a makeshift stage. Professing the importance of ‘Akhand Hindu Rashtra’, Raja railed against Aurangzeb and said the Mughal emperor razed many temples.
"Need of the hour to take resolution to form a Hindu Rashtra"
“Many people tried their best to stop me from coming to Mira Road, but your love pulled me here. It is the need of the hour for us to take a resolution to work towards forming a Hindu Rashtra and act against those involved in heinous acts like cow slaughter and love jihad,” the MLA said.
Speaking to media persons, before the rally, Raja said, “The rally has nothing to do with elections. I am surprised to see the massive police presence. It seems that social media had doubts about hate speeches and violence prompting them to take preventive steps. I fully support the farmers and strongly feel that the government should start talks and resolve the issues amicably. It’s only the Modi government which is competent to lead the country and I am confident that we will bag more than 400 seats in Lok Sabha elections.”
Notably, the police had denied permission for the rally, however, the Bombay High Court granted permission with a condition that hate speeches will not be delivered. Fortunately, no untowards incidents were reported.
