Mumbai News Highlights: Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP observe ‘Traitor Day’ to mark one year of Shinde camp rebellion

A special court in Mumbai on Monday directed the Inspector General of Prisons, Uttar Pradesh to initiate departmental inquiry against the Superintendent of Banda, for releasing three prisoners even as there is a case pending against them.

The court said that it had previously issued orders time and again to the Banda superintendent to produce Mohammed Qureshi, Sanjay Salunkhe, Wajid Ali Shah and Amir Shaikh in Mumbai as there is a case pending against them filed under sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

On June 12, it issued a showcause notice to the superintendent after he had failed to produce the four, following which Shaikh was brought before the court on June 16. Communication sent by the jail said that the other three prisoners have been released last year by the jail.

"When he was aware that this case was pending before this court, he (SP) has released the prisoners from jail, instead of producing them before this court or handing over their custody of this court. It is serious misconduct on part of the superintendent. Hence, departmental proceeding is required to be initiated against him by the competent authority," the court said.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislators met at party headquarters in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The party will be holding a program on June 21 (Wednesday), to mark the completion of 24 years since the formation of the party. 

(Express Video)

"Shiv Sena (UBT) will take out a march to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters on July 1st to protest against the loot going on in the BMC, party leader Uddhav Thackeray announced on Tuesday.

Sena UBT leader and MLA Aaditya Thackeray will lead the march on the day.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Supriya Sule along with other workers Tuesday protested outside party headquarters in Maharashtra, demanding to mark June 20 as Gaddar Din (Traitor's Day). 

#Watch | #NCP leader #SupriyaSule along with other workers protest outside party headquarters in #Maharashtra, demanding to mark June 20 as Gaddar Din (Traitor's Day)

(Express Video)

Follow live updates here: https://t.co/30J8rkHU8d pic.twitter.com/ULBLdte1gI

— Express Mumbai (@ie_mumbai) June 20, 2023

The new election survey carried out by News Arena India does not reflect the true sentiments of the electorate in Maharashtra, said Mahesh Tapase, the Chief Spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

"The people in the state very well know that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who orchestrated defections in the Shiv Sena controlled by Mr Uddhav Thakeray and brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government," Tapase said. The voters of Maharashtra are waiting to teach the BJP a lesson not only in the local self government elections but also in the state and the national elections, he added.

"Even the BJP's internal survey has expressed concern over the non-performance of the ED, Government of Maharashtra where the administration has come to a grinding halt, and the concept of welfare state exists only on paper," criticised Tapase.

In many state elections, the BJP was outrightly rejected but saffron party came back to power using unfair means like defections just like they did in Maharashtra, he added.

If at all the state elections were to happen today, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will win anywhere between 180 to 200 seats with NCP being the largest party, said the NCP spokesperson.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that he has written to the United Nations demanding June 20th to be declared as Gaddar Din (Traitor Day). 

"I have written to UN saying June 20 should be declared as Gaddar Din (Traitor Day)."

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Nitesh Rane Tuesday took to Twitter to raise his demand to the United Nations to celebrate July 27 as Traitor Day. 

The move comes soon after Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray announced that June 20 (today) will be observed as the ‘Gaddar Din‘ (Traitor Day) vs ‘Swabhimaan Divas‘. It was on this day last year that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde raised the banner of revolt that led to a split in Shiv Sena with 40 rebels leaving Thackeray party. 

July 27 happens to be Uddhav Thackeray's birthday. Read more here.

PUBLIC DEMAND!@UN@antonioguterres@UNinIndia @PMOIndia @UNICEFIndia @ShivSenaUBT_ @OfficeofUT @AUThackeray @unfoundation @UNHumanRights@rautsanjay61

Pls declare 27 July as “TRAITOR DAY” . One of the biggest traitor ever seen or experienced was born on this day . He…

— nitesh rane (@NiteshNRane) June 20, 2023

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Tuesday said that all forms of corruption in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) during the tenure of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in the state would be investigated.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had, on Monday, announced a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe CAG audit report on financial irregularities Rs 12,024 crore in BMC.

Jaganath Rath Yatra organised at Ghatkopar on Tuesday afternoon.

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray Tuesday said June 20 (today) will be observed as the ‘Gaddar Din‘ (Traitor Day) vs ‘Swabhimaan Divas‘. It was on this day last year that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde raised the banner of revolt that lead to split in Shiv Sena with 40 rebels leaving Thackeray party. A number of NCP workers too staged a protest at Nagpur, the hometown of Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, to mark ‘Gaddar Din’.

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray who betrayed its pre-poll alliance partner BJP in the 2019 elections with an eye on chief minister’s post was the “real gaddar (betrayer)” who has no right to call others “gadar”, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday.

Addressing a public rally in Kalyan to commemorate nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule at the Centre, Fadnavis said, “What right do they have to call others gaddar (betrayer). If anybody has done ‘gaddari’ first it was Uddhav Thackeray.”

In the 2019 elections, Uddhav Thackeray contested the elections as an alliance partner of the BJP but after polls, he joined hands with rivals with an eye on CM’s post.

A group of people Monday disrupted a show of the recently-released film ‘Adipurush’ in a mall in Nalasopara in Maharashtra’s Palghar district claiming that it had hurt the sentiments of Hindus by taking objectionable creative liberties with the epic Ramayana and its characters.

The protesters claimed they belong to a group called ‘Rashtra Pratham’, a Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar (MBVV) police official said, adding personnel was deployed at the Capital Mall site but no case had been registered as yet.

The protesters shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans and asked people to boycott the film, he said. Read more here.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) Monday mocked former Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari by asking him to write to the United Nations to declare June 20, the day Eknath Shinde’s rebellion that brought down the Uddhav Thackeray government last year began, as ‘World Traitor Day’.

Koshyari was the governor when the rebellion, the split in the Shiv Sena and the fall of the state government took place and he has been at the centre of accusations from Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents of acting in a partisan manner to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Koshyari’s role in the chain of events that led to the formation of the Shinde government with the support of the BJP was also criticised by the Supreme Court while hearing petitions on disqualification of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs.

Read more here.

In less than a week after the advertisement row highlighting a survey by a TV channel showing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ahead of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in popularity, a new survey has come out with Fadnavis topping the CM’s league with 35 per cent votes and Shinde at number four.

The advertisement last week projected Shinde as the next chief minister and showed the Sena leader as a more preferred candidate than Fadnavis for the top job.

The survey that came out Monday, conducted by News Arena India, shows Fadnavis as the most popular CM, followed by Congress leader Ashok Chavan and NCP leader Ajit Pawar with 21 per cent votes each, while Eknath Shinde is shown with just 12 per cent and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray with nine per cent.

Read the full story here.

In a first since separation, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his Shiv Sena fraction celebrated the Foundation day on Monday. The mega event was organised at the NESCO complex, Goregaon located in the western suburbs of Mumbai.

(Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Launching a verbal attack on Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) at the Shiv Sena foundation day event, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde asserted that Bal Thackeray raised the party by involving locals, including autorickshaw drivers, food vendors among others.

"Balasaheb raised this party by taking along autowallas, panawallas and others. But you are forgetting that this auto is of common citizens which put your Mercedes off-road. Don't try to mess with it," Shinde said.

"I carry two pens. I sign on files even during my travel. You never carried even a single pen," the CM added.

Recalling the rebellion led by him and 40 MLAs that led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray government, CM Eknath Shinde said they started a revolution on June 20 last year.

Speaking at the Shiv Sena foundation day event, one touted as another attempt by both factions to assert their rights over the Sena legacy, Shinde asked where Uddhav was when people toiled to grow the party. " I became CM from a branch head of the party. It is because of Balasaheb and Anand Dighe. It takes Tiger's courage to do what we did a year ago."

He called Uddhav Thackeray a "traitor" for allying with the Congress and NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. "You are a traitor of Balasaheb's ideology. You can accuse us of anything but you won't get any sympathy. Those who betrayed voters won't get sympathy. Had we not rebelled, we (Shiv Sena) wouldn't have survived till now. We will ensure that you turn into garbage," Shinde said.

Speaking at the 57th Shiv Sena foundation day event at Sion's Shanmukhananda Hall, former CM and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the "looters" have gathered in Goregaon (where CM Eknath Shinde is also addressing a foundation day event).

Thackeray also hit out at the CM's praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I said in yesterday's speech that PM Modi should go to Manipur. The slave of BJP (CM Eknath Shinde) said I should not spit on the sun (Modi)? If he is the sun, why doesn't he rise in Manipur? What is the use of that sun if he doesn't rise there," Uddhav said.

"Fadnavis yesterday said Modi made the vaccine for Covid. If Modi invented the Covid vaccine, then what were the scientists were doing. These are andhabhakts (blind devotees)," he said.

The battle of perceptions over who gets to inherit the legacy of late Balasaheb Thackeray and the party he had founded in 1966, is all set to be extended to the Shiv Sena Foundation Day celebrations – the second most important celebration in the Sena’s festive calendar after the annual Dussehra rally – with both factions, one led by Thackeray’s son Uddhav and the other by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, holding separate events today.

Clearly, although the Shiv Sena split in June 2022, and the Election Commission of India subsequently recognised the Shinde-led faction as the real ‘Shiv Sena’ — allotting it the right to use the undivided party’s ‘bow and arrow’ electoral symbol — the battle of perceptions is hardly over.

Read Vallabh Ozarkar's full story here

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray reached Shanmukhanand hall in Sion for the Shiv Sena foundation day event.

Meanwhile, CM Eknath Shinde reached Nesco center in Goregaon for his faction's event to mark the day when the Shiv Sena was founded 57 years ago.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde at the celebration of Shiv Sena's 57th foundation Day in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/jwRGEDHqtl

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 19, 2023

Mumbai Police will provide security to Manoj Muntashir, the dialogue writer of the film Adipurush, after he sought a security cover citing a threat to his life.

The "objectionab;e" description of Sita is not the only problem Adipurush is facing with audiences. The movie has also been criticised for its poor VFX, offensive dialogues, and below-average performances from the actors.

Muntashir had said on Sunday that the makers of the mythological epic film have decided to “revise some of the dialogues”, after the film was criticised heavily for its pedestrian language.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole demanded a ban on the film Adipurush, saying it has disrespected Lord Shriram and Lord Hanuman.

Lifeguards deployed at Aksa Beach in Malad saved 10 people from drowning on Sunday between 4 pm and 7 pm. 19 people started drowning when the water level suddenly rose, ANI reported. While 10 were saved by lifeguards, 9 others were able to come out of the sea on their own.

Mumbai, Maharashtra | Lifeguards deployed at Aksa Beach in Malad, Mumbai saved 10 people from drowning on Sunday, 18th June between 4pm-7pm.

19 people suddenly started drowning when the water level suddenly rose. While 10 were saved by lifeguards, 9 others were able to come out… pic.twitter.com/7v9n1dG9yk

— ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2023

The Mumbai Sessions Court will hear a case pertaining to the Hanuman Chalisa row on July 14 as Independent MP Navneet Rana was absent during the hearing today.

The MMRDA shared visuals showing its preparation to keep the SCLR extension project prepared in terms of the monsoon. The visuals showed a clean up operation underway at Vakola nullag and filling of potholes on the road.

Team MMRDA is preparing for the monsoon at the SCLR extension project. Cleaning of major nullahs, including Vakola nullahs, is currently in progress ensuring smooth flow of rainwater. Required machineries & pumps also hv been kept on standby & shall be deployed as per requirement pic.twitter.com/8dFLkWh6qo

— MMRDA (@MMRDAOfficial) June 19, 2023

A group of people disrupted a show of the recently-released film 'Adipurush' in a mall in Nalasopara in Maharashtra's Palghar district claiming it had hurt the sentiments of Hindus by taking objectionable creative liberties with the epic Ramayana and its characters.

The protesters claimed they belong to a group called 'Rashtra Pratham', a Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar (MBVV) police official said, adding personnel was deployed at the Capital Mall site but no case had been registered as yet. The protesters shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans and asked people to boycott the film, he said. (PTI)

#WATCH | Maharashtra | Members of a few Hindu organisations created a ruckus at a multiplex in Nalasopara, Palghar on Sunday, 18th June while the film #Adipurush was being screened there. The protesters stopped the screening of the film, raised slogans and entered into a verbal… pic.twitter.com/b7BBDKPigm

— ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2023

A day after Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Manisha Kayande joined the Sena group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, MP Sanjay Raut took a jibe at her saying the defection did not make any difference.

He went on to add that people who “come and go” are “kachra (garbage)”. Shinde responded that one day Raut and the Thackeray-led Sena will turn into “kachra” themselves. Read more

#WATCH | "Let it go. What difference does it make? I don't know where did she come from. I don't know where did she go. I don't know who brought her to the party. I don't know who made gave her the MLC post. Such people come and go. I call them "kachra"...," says Uddhav Thackeray… https://t.co/gmEzUVDOut pic.twitter.com/yabAKiyaLc

— ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2023

In a setback for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), party spokesperson and MLC (Member of Legislative Council) Manisha Kayande joined Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

“I have joined the real Shiv Sena of Balasaheb Thackeray. This government is completing a year. I have joined Shinde ji after witnessing the rapid pace of development in the state under his leadership,” Kayande said. Read more

Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said that the BJP would crush the “green movement” that has been emerging in Malwani.

Malwani, which has a substantial Muslim population, had witnessed violence during Ram Navami celebrations earlier this year. “BJP will not only pacify Manipur but will also silence this emerging green movement that is coming up in Malwani,” Shelar said in Mumbai. Read more

TO ENSURE a safer and more comfortable environment for survivors of gender-based violence, Mumbai is set to get its first one-stop-crisis (OSC) centre inside a women’s hospital at Cama and Albless Hospital. Established under Centre’s Nirbhaya Fund, OSC centres in crowded hospitals are often avoided by women survivors fearing stigma.

Read the full report by Rupsa Chakraborty

In the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced results declared on Sunday, Mumbai boy Yuvraj Gupta has emerged as Maharashtra topper with a score of 315/360.

With all India rank 13, Gupta is more than happy that he will be able to take admission to Computer Science Engineering at IIT-Bombay, his dream course. Read more

Days after his “Aurangzeb ki auladein” (heirs of Aurangzeb) remark stirred a row, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Sunday evoked the Mughal emperor once again, saying that “‘nationalist Muslims in this country don’t endorse Aurangzeb.”

“Our king is only Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We cannot have another king. Muslims in India are not descendants of Aurangzeb,” Fadnavis said while addressing a public rally in Maharashtra’s Akola. Read more

Surrounded by the Arabian Sea on three sides, the country’s commercial capital and city of dreams is infamous for its flooding woes during monsoon season when it records torrential rains. Apart from tidal variations and mud flats, man-made causes such as enhanced silting of water bodies, choking of drains due to sewage and sullage inflows, and haphazard dumping of garbage have emerged as primary contributing factors behind water-logging in the city.

Here is what The Indian Express found after visiting multiple nullahs and their choke-points in the island city as well as in the eastern and western suburbs

The ban on Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) will adversely affect the business and employment of the sons of soil, BJP Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar said. The BMC should give permission for Ganesh idols made of PoP, he said.

“We do not approve the ban imposed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as shutting down this industry will affect the employment opportunities for the Marathi manoos,” Shelar said. Read more

• Two advertisements in newspapers — one with Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and one without it — became the eye of a political storm in Maharashtra.
• Two separate incidents involving strict action over matters pertaining to religion came to light.
• In further revelations in the Mira road case, the police found that Ramesh Sane gave buttermilk laced with insecticide to his live-in partner Saraswati Vaidya.

Here is what happened in Mumbai and Maharashtra last week

AMID EFFORTS by Opposition parties to stitch together a united front to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis dared the Opposition to declare its leader ahead of the polls, and said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains the unchallenged king.” Read more

Nearly 100 contractual workers of the Thane Mental Hospital in Maharashtra started a protest over their various demands, including wage revision.

The workers had sought permission to stage a dharna at the hospital's entrance, but as the police refused it, they wore black ribbons as a mark of their protest, Jagdish Khairalia, general secretary of the Shramik Janata Sangh representing the workers, told reporters. The hospital management could not be contacted for information in the matter. (PTI)

On the occasion of Shiv Sena foundation day today, Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis offered greetings to the party and its workers. 

"Heartfelt greetings to Shiv Sena lead by Eknath Shinde for carrying the ideology of founder leader late Bal Thackeray," he wrote.

??????????????? ????????? ????? ??????? ????????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????????, ??????????? ???????? ????? ??????? ??????????? ??????? ??????? ??????????????? ??? ??? ???????? !
??????????? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ! #ShivSena @mieknathshinde pic.twitter.com/MbZ0jJWwN1

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) June 19, 2023

Ahead of the foundation day celebrations in Mumbai on Monday, the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray have unleashed an ugly poster war to assert and claim Sena’s legacy and political upmanship.

The Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s flag has prominently displayed its party symbol ‘bow and arrow’, whereas Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) depicts ‘flaming torch’. The message that comes through is that both Shinde and Thackeray are battle-ready. It is a fight between bow and arrow versus flaming torch.

The hoardings put up by Shinde faction prominently have pictures of late Bal Thackeray along with his political mentor late Anand Dighe. In the backdrop, there is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, alongside a map of Maharashtra. It also has pictures of CM Shinde.

The Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) posters’ central message reads: Amhi Balasahebanchi ShivSena. Asel Amchi Kayam Saath. 365 divas, 24 taas…Translated it means, “We are Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena. We pledge our support forever 365 days, 24 hours…”

The posters of Shiv Sena (UBT) have pictures of late Bal Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray. The message underneath asserts: “Nishtavanancha kutumbhshohala; Shiv Sena parivar jaga vegla.” Translated it means, “This is the get-together of die-hard loyalists. Shiv Sena parivar is different from the world.”

Read more

With the Shiv Sena’s foundation day today, all eyes will be on the two rival factions of the party: the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde is set to address a rally at Goregaon, while Thackeray will hold his rally at Shanmukhananda Hall in Sion.

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Follow us as we bring you the latest news from Mumbai, and the Shiv Sena foundation day rallies organised by Maharashtra CM Eknat Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) rally.