Shiv Sena workers outside MLA Ravi Rana and Navneet Kaur's residence at Khar in Mumbai, Saturday, April 23, 2022.
Highlights
- NCP leader Fahmida Hasan Khan said she recites the Hanuman Chalisa and does Durga Puja at her home
- Her letter comes amid a controversy in Maha over the arrest of MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband
- Sena & BJP are at loggerheads ever since the former sided with ideological rivals Congress-NCP
Amid the ongoing slugfest between the BJP and Shiv Sena over the recitation of Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's residence, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has sought permission from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to read the Hanuman Chalisa and Namaz outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence in Delhi.
NCP leader Fahmida Hasan Khan's letter to Shah comes in the backdrop of a raging controversy in Maharashtra where Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi were arrested on Saturday after they gave a call for the chanting of Hanuman Chalisa outside Uddhav's private residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai. Their move triggered angry protests by Shiv Sena workers. The two were sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
Khan in her letter said that she wants to read the Namaz, Hanuman Chalisa, Durga Chalisa, Namokar Mantra and more outside PM Modi's official residence at Delhi's Lok Kalyan Marg. The NCP leader added that she recites the Hanuman Chalisa and does Durga Puja at her home.
"But the way inflation and unemployment are increasing in the country, it has become necessary to wake up the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi... if Ravi Rana and Navneet Rana can enjoy the benefit of reading Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree, we should be allowed to go to PM Modi's residence in Delhi to offer Namaz, Hanuman Chalisa and Durga Chalisa," she said in her letter.
Shiv Sena, a long-time ally of the BJP, served ties with the saffron party in 2019 over the CM's post. Although the Sena and BJP together had secured a comfortable majority in the 2019 Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Uddhav's party joined hands with ideological rivals Congress and NCP to form a coalition government. Uddhav heads the Sena-NCP-Congress government.
Sena and BJP are at loggerheads since then with the latter accusing Uddhav of compromising with Bal Thackeray's ideology.
READ MORE: Hanuman Chalisa row: 14-day judicial custody for Rana couple; 6 Shiv Sena workers arrested
