Sonu Sood to attend Chhath Puja at Juhu Beach on the 15th amid Mumbai row

A dispute over Chhath Puja has been running in Mumbai for the past few days. Bollywood actor Sonu Sood has now entered it. He shared a video on social media and made an announcement.

In the video, Sood said he would be at Juhu Beach on the evening of the 15th to celebrate Chhath Puja. He said he was coming to Juhu Beach only for the puja, without getting into any political debate.

The row began when Bhojpuri songs were played at railway stations in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane on the occasion of Chhath Puja. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) strongly opposed this. The party then also demanded that Chhath Puja not be held at Mumbai's beaches and at Banganga.

The MNS is against Chhath Puja being celebrated at Juhu Beach. Sood's video has come out amid this opposition. The MNS stand has also put pressure on the local administration and police over the Chhath Puja event at Juhu Chowpatty. All eyes are now on what happens there on the 15th.

Meanwhile, MNS president Raj Thackeray has alleged that the BJP is trying to create conflict in Maharashtra over the Chhath Puja issue. He claimed the dispute was being manufactured because of the Uttar Pradesh elections. Thackeray sharply criticised the BJP in a social media post.

His post reads: "Politics in Maharashtra for the coming Uttar Pradesh elections? The BJP's politics of 'divide and rule'. We need not fight on a battlefield they have chosen!" He went on to write: "We will decide whom to answer, when and how, through guerrilla tactics!" "I have not seen a society as unguarded as the Marathi society anywhere in the country!" "Do not fall into their trap, but stay alert!"

Reactions have been coming on social media since Sood's video. Some people have linked his presence to the sanctity of Chhath Puja. Others have said the MNS opposition has a political colour.