By Kavita Mistry 
Mumbai: The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has slammed the Mahayuti government for allegedly stealing credit for its efforts to light up the landmark Shivaji Park during Diwali, which has grown to be a very popular sight among Mumbai’s residents.
The criticism follows a social media post by the Maharashtra tourism department about the Shivaji Park ‘Deepotsav,’ without any mention of the MNS or Raj Thackeray.
The post on ‘X’ said, “Experience Mumbai’s Diwali magic! If you haven’t experienced the Deepotsav at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, Dadar, you are missing Mumbai’s most dazzling sight of the season.”
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Experience Mumbai’s Diwali Magic!If you haven’t experienced the Deepotsav at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park, Dadar, you’re missing Mumbai’s most dazzling sight of the season!
The sky painted with fireworks make every evening here feels straight out of a dream. pic.twitter.com/HxJBlbJJry— Maharashtra Tourism (@maha_tourism) October 21, 2025
The post further gives details of how this ‘Deepotsav,’ which involves grand lights all around Shivaji Park and a fireworks display will be on from 17 October to 22 October.
On Wednesday, the MNS sharply reacted to the post saying the party has been organising Deepotsav for several years, letting it be “completely non-political” and only “to bring joy to people.”
“However, it was particularly surprising when a department of the Maharashtra government marketed this Deepotsav as if it were their own initiative. If they had given even a small amount of credit to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, we would have certainly been delighted, and it would have reflected the government’s magnanimity,” it said on ‘X’.
“But it is evident that the ruling party’s approach is to claim that your leaders are our leaders, your party is our party. But we never imagined that the government would go so far as to claim others’ good programmes as their own.”
महाराष्ट्र पर्यटन विभागाने त्यांच्या एक्स हॅण्डलवरून, मुंबईतील शिवाजी पार्क मैदानावरील ‘दीपोत्सवाची’ काही क्षणचित्रं दाखवून पुढे हा अनुभव घ्यायला या असं मुंबई आणि मुंबई बाहेरील पर्यटकांना असं आवाहन केलं आहे… दिवाळी हा हिंदूंचा सगळ्यात मोठा सण आणि या सणाच्या निमित्ताने गेली १३… https://t.co/EAC3vLlH1p
— MNS Adhikrut – मनसे अधिकृत (@mnsadhikrut) October 22, 2025
The Mahayuti government comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
MNS leader Avinash Abhyankar criticised the Maharashtra government for giving out wrong information about the ‘Deepotsav’ dates.
“Don’t give out false information. The fireworks display is from 17th to 26th October, not 22nd. Because it is Diwali, we are not giving them a fitting reply, otherwise we would have responded to this in their own language,” he told reporters.
Tourism minister Shambhuraj Desai, a leader from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, did not respond to ThePrint’s call for a comment. This article will be updated as and when a response is received.
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Larger message
The MNS has been lighting up Shivaji Park during Diwali for the past 13 years, and while the party claims that the project is completely non-political, the platform has been used to send political messages.
Ahead of the Mumbai civic polls expected early next year, the MNS invited Uddhav Thackeray as the chief guest to inaugurate its ‘Deepotsav’ on 17 October.
दरवर्षी प्रमाणे महाराष्ट्र नवनिर्माण सेनेतर्फे मुंबईतील दादर येथील छत्रपती शिवाजी महाराज मैदानावर, ‘दीपोत्सव’ सोहळा साजरा होतो. आज दीपोत्सवाचे उदघाट्न माझे बंधू आणि शिवसेना पक्ष प्रमुख श्री. उद्धव ठाकरे आणि कुटुंबीय यांनी केलं… त्या सोहळ्याची क्षणचित्रं…#दीपोत्सव२०२५ pic.twitter.com/sm5LNjoRxI
— Raj Thackeray (@RajThackeray) October 17, 2025
This comes at a time when estranged cousins Raj and Uddhav have buried the hatchet and have been increasingly working together—from organising a joint rally to oppose the imposition of Hindi as a compulsory third language in schools to demanding that local polls be postponed till voter lists are cleaned up, alleging vote theft.
In 2022, the MNS invited Devendra Fadnavis, who is the current Maharashtra chief minister, and Eknath Shinde, currently the Deputy CM, as the Deepotsav chief guests. This was the year when the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena split and Shinde walked out of the party with a majority of MLAs claiming to be the real Shiv Sena. Shinde had then joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a government with himself as CM and Fadnavis as his deputy.
The MNS and the Mahayuti went on to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha poll in an alliance.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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