MUMBAI, INDIA, August 30, 2004: With just over a month to go before polling day in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena has found another issue to attack the Congress party- this time it is the alleged harassment of Bhajan mandals on Mumbai’s local trains by the city’s railway police. Shiv Sainiks sang the state song on a packed Goregaon-Churchgate local in protest against what they call is an unjust crackdown on the city’s bhajan mandals that sing daily on the city’s local trains. The railway police have been fining the groups on grounds that the singing disturbs other commuters. But the Shiv Sena has taken it as an attack on Hinduism.
A common feature on Mumbai locals, Bhajan Mandals have been around since the 60s. The groups consist of regular commuters who spend their journey time, singing bhajans (religious songs) to the beats of cymbals and brass bells. But the practice became a controversy after the Muslim League said they wanted to sing qawaalis on trains. The railways turned down the application fearing a confrontation between the two groups and asked the bhajan mandals to stop.
In a sudden turnaround the government appears to be taking a more tolerant stand and does not seem to be in a hurry to take any action. “Let the sainiks sing bhajans. That is all they have left to do,” said R R Patil, Home Minister. The decision on the qawaali groups however, is still pending.
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