After marking the birth anniversary of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray this January with the inauguration of a memorial torch at Shivaji Park, for next year’s birthday present to their deceased party founder, sainiks have demanded that the memorial site be made eight times as big as it is now.

Sena also wants the expanded memorial site to be demarcated by an iron railing and gate, said a front-page report in this paper yesterday. This will not only require the ground to be dug up, but will also result in a material change in the appearance of the park, which is a heritage site.