Shiv Sena turns to folk music to woo North Indians
The Dindoshi Assembly seat has more than 2.5 lakh voters, of which 85,000 are North Indians.
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena — in a bid to connect with the North Indian community ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election — is organising Kajri Mahotsav, a folk music fest.
Sources in the party said the event would be held on Monday at Shri Shyam Bapu Mandir Hall in Goregaon and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray would be a ‘special guest’.
A source said, “Yuva Sena chief is reaching out to North Indians with an aim to expand the party’s boundaries beyond the state.”
According to a poster for the event, Sunil Prabhu — the Sena’s chief whip in the state Assembly and legislator from Dindoshi constituency — and MP Gajanan Kirtikar will be present as chief guests.” However, Mr Kirtikar is unlikely to attend the programme as he has to catch a flight to Nagpur on Monday evening.
Stating that North Ind-ian party workers were excited about the programme in his constituency, Mr Prabhu said, “This will be the first such Kajri Mahotsav organised by us this year.”
The Dindoshi Assembly seat has more than 2.5 lakh voters, of which 85,000 are North Indians.
Sources said that the Sena would conduct at least five such events over a month and the next Kajri Mahotsav would be organised in the Maga-thane Assembly segment.
The sources said the Sena hopes such programmes will win over North Indians, who have been living in the city for decades, and account for close to 25 per cent of the city’s voters.
It is not alone in this regard. Abhiyan, a socio-cultural organisation hea-ded by Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Amarjeet Mishra has also organised 22 Kajri events across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) this month. UP Cabinet ministers Mahendra Singh, Anil Rajbhar, Swati Singh, Raju Shrivastav and MP Dr Ramapati Ram Tripathi had presided in the programme.
Speaking about the Sena’s first Kajri Mahotsav, Mr Mishra, who had been organising such events for the last 20 years in Mumbai, said, “Better late than never. It is a good decision, which will help preserve North Indian folk music.”