The loudspeaker row in Maharashtra has led to a video battle claiming Bal Thackeray’s legacy. The ongoing battle between Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray has seen the release of videos by both sides.

Shiv Sena has hit out at Raj Thackeray by sharing a video of the party founder Bal Thackeray in which he is seen taking a veiled jibe at the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief. This comes soon after Raj Thackeray shared a video of Bal Thackeray wherein he is seen speaking against the use of loudspeakers. Raj Thackeray has warned that the MNS workers will play Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers.

The loudspeaker row in the state broke out after the MNS chief issued an ultimatum to the state government to remove the loudspeakers from the mosques by May 3.
Following the end of the deadline, the Mumbai Police seized loudspeakers from the MNS office and detained the party’s Chandivali unit president Mahendra Bhanushali and others on Tuesday. The Police also registered a case against Raj Thackeray over his speech at a rally in Aurangabad held on May 1 where he reiterated his ultimatum.

In the video shared by the Shiv Sena leader, Bal Thackeray is heard saying, “People say, someone has copied my style of oratory, I don’t know who? One day they will say that I have copied him if I speak in the same style. It reminds me of a joke on this.”

The Shiv Sena founder is further heard saying, “One boy during his exams submitted blank answer sheet, another boy complained to the professor about the first boy submitting blank answer sheet. Professor asked him, so what? The second boy said I am just telling you to know that I have also submitted a blank answer sheet, so you should not say that I have copied from him. Now he raises the Marathi issue, Marathi… I had raised this Marathi issue when you were not even born. You can copy someone’s oratory style but the thought is important behind everything. But let it be. There are many issues…”
Notably, Raj Thackeray had recently posed in Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s trademark attire in a social media post. Raj Thackeray is incidentally attempting an image makeover to revive his political fortunes in the state by embarking on hard Hindutva.
In the video, shared by Raj Thackeray, Bal Thackeray is heard saying that the Shiv Sena will not rest until it is successful in preventing people from offering namaz on roads when it comes to power in the state.

“We (Shiv Sena) will not stop until we are successful in preventing the people from offering namaz on roads when we will form the government in Maharashtra,” Bal Thackeray said in the video posted by the MNS chief on his Twitter handle today.

“If someone has any complaint about the Hindu religion, then they can come to us, and we will solve the issue. Loudspeakers will be removed from the mosques,” Bal Thackeray said in the video shared by Raj Thackeray.

(ANI inputs)