Shiv Sena to hold Dussehra rally indoors for 2nd year due to COVID-19

The Shiv Sena will not be holding its annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park in view of COVID-19 for the second straight year and instead the event will be organised indoors in an auditorium here with 50 per cent seating capacity, party sources said on Monday.

The rally, a key public event linked to the party's evolution, will be held at Shanmukhanand Hall in Central Mumbai on October 15 and will be addressed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who is also the Sena president, they said.

The meeting will be held with 50 per cent audience capacity of the 3,000-seater auditorium, they said.

This will be the second straight year when the Shiv Sena, which heads the MVA government, will not be able to hold its Dussehra rally at the sprawling Shivaji Park ground, the traditional venue, in view of the COVID19 pandemic.

Last year, the meeting was held at Savarkar auditorium opposite the Shivaji Park in the presence of just 50 people.

The Shiv Sena was founded by late Bal Thackeray on June 19, 1966, and since then every year, the rally was addressed by him at the Shivaji Park till his death in 2012.

Since 2012, his son Uddhav Thackeray has been addressing the event, which used to see a large gathering of party workers in pre-coronavirus time.

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