Pune MNS chief Vasant More shunted out following differences over Raj Thackeray’s provocative ‘remove loudspeakers before mosques’

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Mumbai: Cracking the whip on voices of dissent within the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), party chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday ‘removed’ Pune MNS city president Vasant More from his post following the latter’s objections to Raj Thackeray’s recent Gudi Padwa day speech demanding the removal of loudspeakers from mosques and countering the Azaan with the Hanuman Chalisa.  

The 47-year-old Vasant More has been a long-time associate of Raj Thackeray and was considered as one of the important faces of the MNS in Pune district since the inception of the party in 2006.

Following a meeting of MNS leaders from Pune at his residence in Mumbai on Thursday, Raj Thackeray announced that Vasant More would no longer continue as the Pune city chief of the MNS in Pune. Instead, he appointed MNS corporator Sainath Babar as the MNS Pune city chief.

Clarifying over the controversy, Vasant More remarked, “I am not upset with Raj Thackeray nor have I been ‘removed’ as it is being said…I had myself expressed the wish that I would not continue in this post after May.” More was not invited to Mumbai for the meeting and neither was kept informed regarding his ‘dismissal’, MNS sources added. 

It may be recalled that in his April 2 Gudi Padwa (Maharashtrian New Year), Raj  Thackeray, taking a hard ‘Hindutva’ line, demanded the ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to remove loudspeakers before mosques, or else his party workers would do so by force and play the Hanuman Chalisa instead. 

However, the MNS chief’s speech has met with mixed reactions within his own party with leaders like Vasant More, who refused to implement it citing fears of alienating their Muslim voters. 

The MNS currently has only two corporators – Vasant More and Sainath Babar in the cash-rich Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) which is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is slated to go to polls later this year. 

After Raj Thackeray’s vitriolic speech, Vasant More openly said such a stance would severely affect his re-election prospects in the 2022 PMC election and remarked that he wanted his ward to remain peaceful.  

While, Vasant More, was elected from Katraj in 2017, Sainath Babar was elected from Kondhwa. Both have a significant Muslim population in their respective civic wards – many of whom are their supporters. 

Reacting further, Vasant More said, “I have been with Raj Thackeray for the last 27 years. So, there is no question of my being upset with his decision (his removal from the Pune MNS city president’s post). At the same time, a number of my Muslim constituents have expressed their dismay following his (Raj Thackeray’s) April 2 speech and I have received calls from mosques as well.”

Extending his congratulations to Sainath Babar’s appointment as the Pune city president, Vasant More said that the former was his “political successor” and that their friendship dated back to 2009. 

More, further added, “As a party secretary, I will continue working under Sainath Babar’s direction. Even if that post (party secretary) is taken away from me, I will continue working as an ordinary MNS worker.” 

Vasant More denied reports of his joining any other party. He added that while he had received many offers from other political parties, he was an MNS man through and through and had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Raj Thackeray since the party’s beginnings. 

Once considered as a power-broker in Maharashtra politics, the MNS had notched up impressive performances in the 2012 polls to the Pune and Nashik civic bodies. The MNS had emerged as the single-largest party in Nashik, racing ahead of the Congress and the BJP in Pune, second only to Sharad Pawar’s NCP. 

Since then, haphazard election campaigning coupled with internal party bickering have seen the MNS literally implode in Maharashtra with Raj Thackeray losing ground in the MNS’ erstwhile pockets of influence in Nashik and Pune.