Mid-Day

Mumbai, Feb 7: After years in the Shiv Sena, known for its annual anti-Valentine’s Day rampages, Raj Thackeray now says he will not oppose the ‘un-Indian’ February 14 celebrations.

The Shiv Sena has in the past referred to Valentine’s Day as Prostitution Day. It has also vandalised stores selling Valentine’s Day merchandise and targeted young couples in love.

But now, Raj has ordered his men not oppose the celebrations. He told Mid Day yesterday, “We will neither promote nor oppose St Valentine’s Day.”

However, Raj’s supporters say this is not new position. They claim he has never told his workers to use violence against those who celebrated Valentine’s Day.

“As a member of the party, he didn’t have any choice when the party opposed Valentine’s Day. He had to go with the party’s decision,” said a close associate, who did not wish to be named.

He added that Raj’s message is this: Instead of inciting hatred against others, we should celebrate our own festivals in a big way.

“We could have cultural programmes for festivals like dahi handi and Makar Sankranti. In fact the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena has been promoting Makar Sankranti as Friendship Day in colleges for the past three years,” said a Raj supporter.

This is not the first issue Raj has done a U-turn on since quitting the Sena. He also spoke highly about Mahatma Gandhi, whom the Sena has never had high regard for.