With most of their aggressive workers identified and picked up by the police ahead of the release of My Name Is Khan,Shiv Sena members have admitted that their annual Valentine Day protests will likely be low-key,if they happen at all. Every year,Sainiks denounce the concept of Valentines Day and warn couples against celebrating it,but this year,they say,the agitation against Shah Rukh Khan and his movie are of more immediate importance. First let us win tomorrows battle, said one South Mumbai vibhag pramukh. We have two days to plan the Valentines Day protest. The Valentines Day protests,if any,will be affected not only by the arrests and the detentions but also by the fact that several Sena men will be occupied guarding Uddhav Thackeray following withdrawal of his security. Most of our active members have been picked up by the police. Nowadays,party activists do not want criminal offences registered against them due to stringent laws and more importantly,it creates problems for them professionally. Now with a small handful of party activists,we have to make the plan successful. The focus remains on not allowing Shah Rukh Khan to gain commercially from the film until he apologises, a corporator from Bhandup admitted. For Valentine Days protest,we have not received any specific orders from Matoshree, he added. The protest is likely to continue for a few days and most of our party workers have been arrested. We cannot afford to waste our active Sainiks and see them arrested for something like Valentines Day,which is not our priority at this point, added a Sainik from Central Mumbai. A former Sena corporator from Thane was more direct: As we are concentrating on disrupting the movie,we wont be protesting Valentines Day. Even if it happens,it will be the usual annual protest for the sake of it. Sena leader Subhash Desai said the party remains opposed as ever to Valentines Day. We cant say how the nature of our protests will be, he said.
