In a hard hitting editorial on the party mouthpiece Saamna published on Wednesday, Thackeray said that at every step, the environment pollution law is being defied and asked if the loud pitched voice of the Hindus violates the noise pollution level.

The loudspeakers at the Bhendi Bazaar and Behrampada mosques in central Mumbai start ‘barking’ from early hours of morning, therefore action should be taken against the use of loudspeakers at the mosques and criminal offenses should be registered against them, Thackeray demanded.

The police have registered offences against Sena leaders for violating a Bombay High Court order at the Dussehra rally addressed by Thackeray. The Court had ordered that the Sena’s loudspeakers at the rally should not exceed the 50 decibel noise level, but it registered a 94 decibel level.

Thackeray wrote in the editorial: “We have embraced severe problems for the sake of Maharashtra and Marathi people, so the additional one more case does not make a difference. If love for the Marathi people, and raising our voices for their justice and rights is a crime, then let it be known, that we are prepared to commit such crimes again and again”.

And in a way by this statement, Thackeray has challenged the court.

“Just because of political differences, a ban should be imposed on the function of some party; this point of view is not acceptable to us. Is it only in Mumbai where noise pollution level is violated by the Hindus? The loudspeakers at the mosques in Bhendi Bazar and Behrampada blare at full volume during the azan from early morning and disturb people’s sleep, students studying for exams, old and sick patients. Immediate action should be taken against the mosques too for the noise pollution and cases registered against them. Don’t the protectors of the environment feel the violations by the Muslims? This is the misfortune of the country, Thackeray stated.

Thackeray in the concluding part said: “The voice of the Marathi people in Mumbai has already been throttled. The influx of North Indians has already reached the 500-plus decibel point. The infiltrations by Bangladeshi people have reached to the highest level. Why doesn’t this infiltration reach the ears of these deaf people who want to gag the Hindus? We know the law of the country and nobody should try to teach us the same.”

As if these saber-rattling were not enough, Thackeray called for a complete ban on the use of hijab by Muslim women and girls.

In the second part of the editorial he said: “Like France and some other countries, India should ban the use of hijab by the Muslim women.

Justifying his demand Thackeray referred to the stealing of an infant recently allegedly by a hijab-clad woman, and said that this was a proof that the veil could be grossly misused and that the government should put a statutory ban on it and urged the state home minister RR Patil to formulate a law banning the hijab.

Thackeray argued that acts like that of stealing a newborn infant with the aid of the hijab runs against the tenets of Islam and questioned whether Islam endorses such acts and called upon Muslim organizations and leaders that it was now time that they start a campaign against the wearing of hijab.

Thackeray further said that the wearing of hijab only symbolizes the slavery of the Muslim woman and that government schemes on which millions of rupees are spent to empower and educate Muslim women mean nothing because of the archaic hijab system. He advised Muslims to follow Mustafa Kamal Pasha, Turkey’s reformist leader who promoted European dresses for both men and women in the early 20th century.

Reacting to Thackeray’s editorial and demand, Muslim leaders slammed him, with clerics and secularists stating that this only betrayed the party’s deep-rooted bias against Islam and Muslims, adding that any anti-Hijab campaign by parties like Sena would only hamper real reforms in the community.