Mumbai: Hours after Bombay HC called for restoration of actor Dia Mirza’s video, CM Devendra Fadnavis said it was the civic body’s prerogative whether to keep or delete the clip as it manages its own social media handles.“Dia Mirza may be a good actor but she’s not some big politician from India. Hence, I don’t think this is an issue of our level,” he told reporters.BMC had not reposted the video as of Tuesday evening. A senior civic official said they were waiting for the HC order. Sources said the issue had also been taken up with the CM’s office to seek clarity on whether the video should be uploaded again.Mumbai BJP chief Ameet Satam, who was the first to raise an objection to Mirza’s post, asserted that there was no religious discrimination involved as alleged. “We have the utmost respect for the court. We will study the observations made by it and its context. There was no prayer/ petition as such specifically in context of the appeal made in the video. We, however, clarify there is no objection to any individual over one’s religion, caste and creed but only on the basis of their association with anti-India forces, anti-national elements and the ‘tukde-tukde gang’,” he told TOI.
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The opposition continued to question the civic administration and slam BJP netas, including mayor Ritu Tawde, who had called the actor “anti-Hindu” and claimed she had been kept in the dark about Mirza being roped in by the civic administration for the anti-pollution campaign along with other celebrities. “BJP turns every administration it takes over into a circus! Total clownery in BMC, where the mayor and her bosses claim they don’t know what the administration does, whenever it goes wrong! Every other mayor globally is focused on civic issues. Here the mayor’s focus has been on her car’s red beacon, residence renovation and now a citizen’s religion in a video message that was asked for by the BMC itself!” said Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray in a post.Kishori Pednekar, Sena (UBT)’s group leader in BMC, said Mirza’s appeal was entirely consistent with BMC’s own messaging on pollution control and environmental protection. On Tuesday, she wrote to the civic commissioner objecting to the video’s removal action and seeking appropriate administrative intervention.Waris Pathan, national spokesperson for AIMIM, echoed many opposition netas’ question: “Why was Dia Mirza singled out when others made the same appeal? The issue was pollution and public health, not politics or someone’s surname.”Sachin Sawant, national secretary of All India Congress Committee, said, “…Such distorted politics and this ideological pollution will not be tolerated. Action must be taken against those officials who have committed unconstitutional acts for BJP. If there is any integrity, Satam should apologise.”
