On Sunday, the glittery Lakme Fashion Week fell prey to a long-standing disagreement between Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Mumbai’s Bhau Daji Lad Museum.
The finale of the fashion show, featuring works by designer Anamika Khanna, was to be held in the 143-year-old museum on the evening of March 22. But after threats, protests and reported vandalism by a group of MNS workers in the afternoon, the organisers decided to pull out of the museum and shift the venue to South Mumbai’s Palladium hotel at the last minute.
According to the museum authorities, this was a clear case of moral policing. According to the MNS, it was because of a violation of museum rules and a dispute over the institution's controversial expansion plan.
‘No commercial events allowed’
“The Bhau Daji Lad museum belongs to the BMC [Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation] and is not meant for commercial events like a fashion show,” said Sanjay Naik, an MNS leader who led the protest against the event on Sunday.
The museum, located on the premises of Mumbai’s Jijamata Udyan zoo and botanical gardens, is run by the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum Trust. The trust was created after an agreement signed in 2003 between the BMC, the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.
The agreement is not available in the public domain, but Naik is certain that the museum is not within its rights to host fashion shows and other commercial events. “As per the agreement, the museum can hold only educational or historical events,” said Naik. “All we are asking for is to make the agreement available for all to read.”
While the local Byculla police has not registered any incident of vandalism or intimidation at the museum, Naik did admit that a group had threatened fashion show organisers on Sunday. However, he claimed that the men belonged to a rival political party.
“It was Shiv Sena men who did the threatening," said Naik. "A small group of us from the MNS went later, just to tell the organisers that our fight was with the museum, not them. By then, the organisers had already decided to change their venue.”
‘We have a problem with the car park’
The MNS also admitted on Monday that its attack on the fashion show was linked to an older dispute with the museum trust, about the contentious plan to extend the Bhau Daji Lad Museum over a 5,000 sq ft area behind the current building.
The municipal corporation announced the extension plan back in 2012, but local residents as well as a few political parties soon began to oppose it, because the proposal involved converting a large playground next door into a car park for the expanded museum.
“This has been our fight for the past six months at least,” said Naik. “We have no objection to the museum being expanded, but they can’t be allowed to take away a playground meant for children.”
Several citizen groups have also expressed a similar opposition to the car park proposal. Last month, the local municipal corporator Samita Naik – who happens to be Naik’s wife – organised an informal ballot to prove that the residents of the area were overwhelmingly opposed to the playground being taken over.
‘The issue is their regressive attitude’
The museum authorities, however, claim that Naik has been merely trying to cover up the real reason for the MNS’s interference in the fashion event.
“The tripartite agreement of the Trust clearly says that we are allowed to have commercial events in the museum, and there is a resolution which authorises us to hold fund-raising events,” said Tasneem Mehta, managing trustee and honorary director of the museum, who said that the Lakme Fashion Week finale was meant to raise funds for the museum.
The show was to feature Indian clothing designs, and Mehta has been furious about the nativist party’s interference. “The MNS is behaving like the Taliban," she said. "Fashion is a large and important industry, and they are trying to muzzle it. Tomorrow they might object to certain exhibitions in the museum.”
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The finale of the fashion show, featuring works by designer Anamika Khanna, was to be held in the 143-year-old museum on the evening of March 22. But after threats, protests and reported vandalism by a group of MNS workers in the afternoon, the organisers decided to pull out of the museum and shift the venue to South Mumbai’s Palladium hotel at the last minute.
According to the museum authorities, this was a clear case of moral policing. According to the MNS, it was because of a violation of museum rules and a dispute over the institution's controversial expansion plan.
‘No commercial events allowed’
“The Bhau Daji Lad museum belongs to the BMC [Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation] and is not meant for commercial events like a fashion show,” said Sanjay Naik, an MNS leader who led the protest against the event on Sunday.
The museum, located on the premises of Mumbai’s Jijamata Udyan zoo and botanical gardens, is run by the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum Trust. The trust was created after an agreement signed in 2003 between the BMC, the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.
The agreement is not available in the public domain, but Naik is certain that the museum is not within its rights to host fashion shows and other commercial events. “As per the agreement, the museum can hold only educational or historical events,” said Naik. “All we are asking for is to make the agreement available for all to read.”
While the local Byculla police has not registered any incident of vandalism or intimidation at the museum, Naik did admit that a group had threatened fashion show organisers on Sunday. However, he claimed that the men belonged to a rival political party.
“It was Shiv Sena men who did the threatening," said Naik. "A small group of us from the MNS went later, just to tell the organisers that our fight was with the museum, not them. By then, the organisers had already decided to change their venue.”
‘We have a problem with the car park’
The MNS also admitted on Monday that its attack on the fashion show was linked to an older dispute with the museum trust, about the contentious plan to extend the Bhau Daji Lad Museum over a 5,000 sq ft area behind the current building.
The municipal corporation announced the extension plan back in 2012, but local residents as well as a few political parties soon began to oppose it, because the proposal involved converting a large playground next door into a car park for the expanded museum.
“This has been our fight for the past six months at least,” said Naik. “We have no objection to the museum being expanded, but they can’t be allowed to take away a playground meant for children.”
Several citizen groups have also expressed a similar opposition to the car park proposal. Last month, the local municipal corporator Samita Naik – who happens to be Naik’s wife – organised an informal ballot to prove that the residents of the area were overwhelmingly opposed to the playground being taken over.
‘The issue is their regressive attitude’
The museum authorities, however, claim that Naik has been merely trying to cover up the real reason for the MNS’s interference in the fashion event.
“The tripartite agreement of the Trust clearly says that we are allowed to have commercial events in the museum, and there is a resolution which authorises us to hold fund-raising events,” said Tasneem Mehta, managing trustee and honorary director of the museum, who said that the Lakme Fashion Week finale was meant to raise funds for the museum.
The show was to feature Indian clothing designs, and Mehta has been furious about the nativist party’s interference. “The MNS is behaving like the Taliban," she said. "Fashion is a large and important industry, and they are trying to muzzle it. Tomorrow they might object to certain exhibitions in the museum.”