Mumbai: Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has accused the Mahayuti authorities of allegedly stealing credit score for its initiative to gentle up the landmark Shivaji Park throughout Diwali, which has grown right into a vastly common attraction amongst Mumbai residents.
The criticism adopted a publish on social media by the Maharashtra Tourism Division concerning the Shivaji Park ‘Deeposabu’, which didn’t point out MNS or Raj Thackeray in any respect.
The ‘X’ publish learn, “Expertise the magic of Diwali in Mumbai! If you have not skilled Deepotsav at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park in Dadar, you’re lacking out on essentially the most dazzling sight of the season in Mumbai.”
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Expertise the magic of Diwali in Mumbai!When you’ve got by no means skilled Deeposabu at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park in Dadar, you’re lacking out on probably the most dazzling sights of the season in Mumbai.
The sky is lit up with fireworks and each evening right here appears like a dream. pic.twitter.com/HxJBlbJJry— Maharashtra Tourism (@maha_tourism) October 21, 2025
The publish additional particulars how this ‘Deeposabu’ shall be held from October seventeenth to October twenty second with a spectacular illumination and fireworks show throughout Shivaji Park.
On Wednesday, the MNS reacted violently to a publish that mentioned the get together has been organizing Deepotsav for a number of years and that it’s “utterly apolitical” and solely “to convey pleasure to the folks.”
“However we have been particularly shocked {that a} part of the Maharashtra authorities promoted this Deepotsav as if it have been their very own initiative. Had they proven any appreciation to the Navnirman Sena in Maharashtra, we’d positively have been pleased and it could have mirrored the federal government’s dignity,” he mentioned in X.
“However it’s clear that the ruling get together’s method is to say that your leaders are our leaders and your get together is our get together. However we by no means imagined that the federal government would go as far as to say another person’s good plans as their very own.”
The Maharashtra Tourism Division, by way of its X deal with, has proven some snapshots of the ‘Deeposabu’ held on the Shivaji Park premises in Mumbai and appealed to vacationers from Mumbai and out of doors Mumbai to come back and expertise the competition… Diwali is the most important Hindu competition and on the event of this competition 13… https://t.co/EAC3vLlH1p
— MNS Adhikrut – MNS Official (@mnsadhikrut) October 22, 2025
The Mahayuti authorities is made up of the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP), the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, and the Nationalist Congress Get together (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar.
MNS chief Avinash Abhyankar criticized the Maharashtra authorities for spreading mistaken details about the dates of ‘Deepotsav’.
“Please don’t unfold false info. The fireworks show is from October 17 to 26, not on the twenty second. Now we have not given them a correct response as a result of it’s Diwali. In any other case we’d have responded to this of their phrases,” he advised reporters.
Tourism Minister Shambraj Desai, who heads the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, didn’t reply to ThePrint’s request for remark. This text shall be up to date as solutions are obtained.
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massive message
MNS has been lighting up Shivaji Park throughout Diwali for the previous 13 years, and though the get together claims the mission is totally apolitical, the platform has been used to ship political messages.
Forward of the Mumbai civic polls scheduled for early subsequent 12 months, MNS has invited Uddhav Thackeray because the chief visitor for the inauguration of ‘Deepotsav’ on October 17.
Like yearly, the ‘Dipotsav’ ceremony is widely known by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Maidan in Dadar, Mumbai. Deepotsav was inaugurated at present by my youthful brother and Shiv Sena chief Shri. Uddhav Thackeray and his household…A snapshot from the ceremony…#दीपोत्सव२०२५ pic.twitter.com/sm5LNjoRxI
— Raj Thackeray (@RajThackeray) October 17, 2025
This comes at a time when estranged cousins Raj and Uddhav are more and more working collectively to resolve points, organizing joint rallies in opposition to the introduction of Hindi as a obligatory third language in colleges, alleging vote theft and demanding native polls be postponed till voter rolls are cleaned up.
In 2022, MNS invited present Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and present Deputy CM Eknath Shinde as Deepotsav chief company. That was the 12 months that Thackeray’s Shiv Sena cut up and Shinde, who claimed that the majority MLAs have been the true Shiv Sena, left the get together. Shinde then joined forces with the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) to kind a authorities with himself as CM and Fadnavis as deputy prime minister.
MNS and Mahayuti continued to contest the 2024 Meeting polls in alliance.
(Edited by Tony Lai)
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