Mumbai: Lakme Fashion Week finale shifted abruptly after MNS threat

When the organisers of the Lakme Fashion Week announced that they would host the finale at the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Byculla the cityrsquos fashion fraternity hailed it as a move that would not only boost the museumrsquos popularity but would also result in an alternative public space being used for an international eventWorkers took apart and packed the entire set up at the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Byculla after the venue for the fashion weekrsquos finale was abruptly shifted yesterday PicAtul KambleWith merely hours to go for the show however the organisers hurriedly changed the venue to a city hotel after an MNS leader allegedly threatened to launch a protest against the show The fiveday Lakme Fashion Week SummerResort 2015 was to wind up last night with the final show by the Kolkatabased designer Anamika Khanna at 9 pm at the Byculla museumWith hours to go organisers had to set up the show all over again at the Palladium Hotel in Lower Parel The rehearsals were held in the hotel lobby PicSatyajit DesaiBut around 430 pm media professionals covering the event were alerted through a text message that the venue had been shifted to Palladium Hotel in Lower Parel instead The hotel was the venue partner for the event and most of the fashion shows were held there through the five days There were to be only three offsite shows for collections by Sabyasachi Mukherjee Manish Malhotra and Anamika Khanna of which the last was shiftedThe official statement issued by Lakme Fashion Week a property of IMG Reliance read ldquoWe have moved the venue of the grand finale of Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2015 from Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum back to Palladium Hotel due to unforeseen circumstances The decision was taken keeping in mind the interests of all stakeholders We are confident of a great finale like every seasonrdquoAccording to a museum trustee Byculla corporator Samita Naikrsquos husband Sanjay Naik also an MNS leader had gone to the museum premises and threatened to take another 300 people there to protest against the show ldquoItrsquos a terrible thing to happen for a political party to disrupt a major event in a city of international standards He Sanjay is not some kind of a moral police for everybodyAnamikarsquos collection was celebrating Indian garments and was not immoral This stance of the party is equivalent to telling women to stay home and not to step outrdquo said Tasneem Zakaria Mehta managing trustee and honorary director of the museumHowever MNS leader Sanjay Naik said that the organisers had decided to shift the venue of their own accord He said that according to regulations the museum could only be used for noncommercial purposes and so was not a suitable venue for the fashion show ldquoThe Bhau Daji Lad Museum can hold workshops and other things that are not commercial in natureAlso as per our information the BMC hadnrsquot given permission for any show there We informed the organisers and even before we could protest they cancelled the showrdquo he added His explanation did not pass muster with the museum authorities however ldquoThis lastmoment protest is pointless so many people were employed for this eventThey MNS are just trying to sabotage the museum This was a fundraiser and not a random fashion event the museum was getting R2 lakh from the organisers We hold workshops for people of all age groups and the young fraternity of the city involved in fashion is an equal part of city communityrdquo protested Mehta