Sena softens stand on Shivaji Park memorial

“Shiv Teerth is a holy place for us. But we were never insisting for a memorial there,” Raut said.

He claimed that people seemed to have made a needless controversy over the entire issue and not understood the feelings of Shiv Sainiks. “On Shiv Teerth no memorial will come up but people have to understand that the place is holy for us.”

The Sena likes to refer to Shivaji Park as Shiv Teerth. The place where Bal Thackeray was cremated has turned into a small shrine with people coming from various parts of the state to pay their homage to the leader.

Raut said the party would look at a larger parcel of land to build a suitable memorial for Thackeray.

The state government is keen that the Sena remove the makeshift shrine that they have created for Thackeray from Shivaji Park.

Senior state officials as well as the police had held a meeting to ensure how the shrine could be removed without creating any trouble.

The Shiv Sena has also not made it very clear about when it would remove the structure.

The memorial for

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