The controversy over the Maharashtra Government’s move to make it mandatory on multiplexes to screen Marathi films at prime time on Thursday snowballed into a slugfest between the Shiv Sena and a defiant author-columnist Shobhaa De, with the Sena activists staging a noisy protest outside her south Mumbai residence for “insulting” Marathi culture and crying hoarse that she should shift her base from the State.
A day after De rubbed it on the Shiv Sena by ridiculing its attempt to move a breach of privilege notice against her on the “Marathi movies-a-must- at prime time-in multiplexes” diktat, the Sena activists upped their ante and staged a protest demonstration in front of her Cuffe Parade residence.
The protesters also delivered a tray containing “Vada Pavs” and “Dahi Misals” at De’s residence in a mock protest against her tweet: “No more pop corn at multiplexes in MumbaiIJ Dahi misal and vada pav only. To go better with the Marathi movies at prime time”.
The Sena had set the stage for its protests outside De’s residence through a mocking editorial headlined “Kay hain Shobha AuntyIJ” (What is this Shobha Aunty) published in its official mouth-piece Saamana. The editorial castigated her for “insulting” Marathi culture and said that late Sena chief Bal Thackeray not resorted to “dadagiri” to preserve Marathi culture, her forefathers “would have been born in Pakistan” and she would have attended “page-3 parties in a burqa”. It had also lamented that the comments against the “Marathi movies-a must-at prime time- in multiplexes” diktat, had come from a Maharashtrian woman like her.
De, who was in no mood to either apologise for her remarks or yield in any other manner, thanked the Shiv Sena for serving her delivering her with “delicious” ‘vada-pav’ and ‘Dahi-Misal’.
Having been sounded out in advance about the impending protests by the Sena activists, the police had made elaborate security arrangements in and around De’s residence. “Have been warned there is a Shiv Sena Morcha heading for my home at 1 p.m. Police barricades are up! I am feeling perfectly calm and safe! Thank you, Mumbai Police...”