Mumbai : It seems the MNS has not lost steam and the threat of an agitation by Raj Thackeray’s outfit can still unnerve the city.
The Lakme Fashion Week finale, which was scheduled for Sunday at Byculla’s Bhau Daji Lad museum and was supposed to feature Kareena Kapoor on the ramp, was shifted to another venue after the political party threatened an agitation against the commercial use of the museum.
Although the police had promised complete protection, the organizers were concerned and called off the proceedings at the museum. The five-day event finally concluded at Palladium Hotels in Lower Parel on Sunday.
Lakme Fashion Week is the Mecca of fashion designers and enthusiasts who turn up in large numbers to watch the creations of some of India’s most famous designers on the ramp. It is a star-studded event and a number of celebrities attend it along with socialites and page 3 personalities. This year, the event was planned between March 18 and 22 and the finale was to have Kareena Kapoor walking the ramp as the show stopper. The finale was planned at Bhau Daji Lad Museum as a fundraiser and the funds from the event were to be used for the renovation of the museum.
“But the MNS threatened to bring along 300 people and stop the event. What kind of moral policing is this, at a time when Mumbai is trying to become a global city? And there was nothing objectionable in the event when it comes to clothing.
I think they were trying to sabotage the event just for publicity,” said Tasneem Mehta, Director of the museum. The organizers, Lakme, had approached the police and despite high-ranking officials promising them security, they remained concerned about the threat. The finale was therefore shifted to Palladium hotel.
Sandeep Deshpande, MNS corporator said, “The Bajaj Foundation is exploiting the BMC’s property commercially without permission from the civic body, which we won’t allow. The museum is for the citizens of Mumbai. We will not allow its misuse.” The MNS has also questioned the role of the museum director who had granted permission for staging of the event. According to it, the director had exceeded his brief and only the mayor, who was the chairman of the trustees of the museum, could take such a decision.
Sources from Lakme confirmed that the event had been shifted to a different venue but refused to comment on the controversy.
