It's Raj Thackeray's 'maha aarti' vs Aaditya Thackeray's Hanuman Jayanti event

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday performed a 'maha aarti' on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti in Pune, news agency PTI reported. The MNS chief along with his party workers performed the ‘maha aarti’ at the Khalkar Aali Hanuman temple, said to be one of the oldest temples in Pune.

Thackeray has been in the limelight over his ultimatum to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, asking them to remove loudspeakers from mosques till May 3 or his party would play ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ on loudspeakers.

“I am not against prayers, you can pray at your home, but the government should take a decision on removing mosque loudspeakers. I am warning now... Remove loudspeakers or else we will put loudspeakers in front of the mosque and play Hanuman Chalisa," he had told the MNS workers during a rally at the Shivaji Park in Mumbai on the occasion of Gudi Padwa on April 2.

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In Mumbai, the Shiv Sena organised a ‘Maha Aarti’ at Hanuman temples in Dadar and Girgaon areas. Raj Thackeray's nephew and state minister Aaditya Thackeray visited temples in his constituency Worli. "The Maha Aarti was organised to highlight rising prices," the party said.

To counter Thackeray, the Pune unit of the Nationalist Congress Party organised an all-religion Hanuman Jayanti programme at a temple in Karve Nagar area. The people from Muslim community performed aarti of Lord Hanuman along with Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and Maharashtra unit NCP chief Jayant Patil. An Iftar party was simultaneously organised on the premises of the temple. "India is a country where unity in diversity can be seen and here people of all religions, regions and castes live together and celebrate each others' festivals with great enthusiasm," Pawar said

(With PTI inputs)