The Thackeray faction claimed that over 2.5 lakh people attended his rally, while an estimated 3 lakh were in Shinde. This was the biggest rally for Thackeray in recent times.
This was also a big achievement for Shinde, as it was his first rally of such a large scale. Police estimates that 1 lakh people attended Thackeray’s rally as against 2 lakh for Shinde.
Report card of Mumbai’s biggest Dussehra battle
Shivaji Park has a capacity of 80,000 while BKC has a capacity of 1 lakh. Shinde had arranged food for 3 lakh people.
‘Khokasur’ effigy
Every year an effigy of Ravana is burnt in the Dussehra rally of Shiv Sena. This year, Shiv Sena’s Ravana effigy was made of 50 khokas (boxes) and party president Uddhav Thackeray called it “Khokasur”. The reference to “50 khokes” refers to Rs 50 crore allegedly taken by rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and MPs to join Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction. After Uddhav’s speech, an effigy made of boxes or boxes with the number 50 in bold in the middle was burnt at the end of the rally.
The rally led by Uddhav was termed as a rally of loyalists. A poster near the stage had a picture of late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, with the caption: “I will not allow my Shiv Sena to become a slave to the BJP.” Uddhav said, “Ravana had become a sadhu to kidnap Sita, now these traitors are trying to oust Shiv Sena by using Balasaheb’s mask. With the passage of time, Ravana’s face also changes.”
‘Live coverage’ in trains
Surprised to see the live coverage of the rally organized by Western Railway passengers on Wednesday evening CM Eknath ShindeThe Shiv Sena faction installed television panels inside the coaches of the train. The WR stated that as soon as this was brought to its notice, the coverage was stopped and an explanation was sought from the contractor. Western Railway said that prima facie it has been learned that the rally was staged for 10-15 minutes.
A spokesperson of Western Railway said, “It has come to the fore through some social media channels that a rally of a certain political party was telecast live in local trains. It is clarified that Western Railway has made no such statement. In fact, this Agreement expressly prohibits the display of any advertisement/content of a political nature.”