Maharashtra Language Row: MNS workers detained ahead of rally; Fadnavis says they ignored instructions

Several leaders and activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were detained by the police on Tuesday ahead of a proposed protest rally in Mira Bhayander town of Thane district.

Tensions prevailed in Mira Bhayander as police rounded up protestors who had gathered to participate in the rally proposed by the Marathi Ekikaran Samiti.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has maintained that permission had been granted for the rally, in which MNS leaders planned to participate, but the party insisted on a specific route which posed law and order challenges.

State Minister Pratap Sarnaik, however, has termed the police action as "wrong" and not in line with government directives.

Videos of several MNS activists, including women, packed in police vans have surfaced on social media, but the number of people detained has not been revealed.

Protesters shouted slogans against the government, criticising it for not allowing the morcha.

The police also confined several activists inside a banquet hall to prevent them from reaching the protest venue.

The MNS's Thane unit chief, Ravindra More, posted a video on social media, which showed activists detained inside the banquet hall, many of them holding black placards condemning the government.

"Our peaceful protesters were stopped even before they could reach the site. This is not democracy," More wrote in his post.

According to sources, the police started detaining MNS workers in the early hours of the day before they could arrive at the protest venue from different parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

"The preventive action was taken to maintain law and order," said an official, declining to comment on the use of a banquet hall as a detention space.

There is heavy police deployment in the Mira Bhayander town, as the situation remains tense.

Meanwhile, State Minister and Shiv Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik criticised the police for prohibiting the morcha, saying that the action was uncalled for and not in line with any government directive.

Speaking to reporters in Thane, Sarnaik said, "The police's action was completely wrong. The government has not issued any such instructions to suppress a peaceful morcha in support of Marathi interests." He further asserted that he would discuss the matter with the chief minister.

"The manner in which the police stopped the morcha and detained people early in the morning is unjustified. If the protestors had been allowed to proceed peacefully, there would have been no law and order issue," he said.

Condemning the police action, the minister said he is also proceeding to participate in the morcha.

"This kind of attitude by the police is unwarranted, and if the Marathi-speaking people had sought permission for a peaceful morcha, the police should have permitted them," he said.