Mumbai, April 15: BJP spokesperson Shaina NC's father's office was vandalised by alleged MNS workers in Mumbai this afternoon.

"They were angry about a slogan put up on a banner by my father outside his office, which said: Promoting Marathi Welcomed, Diktat Not Welcomed. Tell me what is wrong with this statement? They tore down the banner, burnt it and vandalised the office," Shaina told this paper.

By evening, Mumbai police had lodged an FIR against unknown persons and a new banner had been put up.

Shaina's father Nana Chudasama, 84, is a jurist, former mayor and former sheriff of Mumbai. He runs an NGO, I Love Mumbai, that has its office on the first floor of a building on Marine Drive. On the ground floor is a pizzeria and nightclub called Pizza by The Bay where Usha Uthup began her career in the 60s.

For the past 40 years, Chudasama has been hanging a banner outside his office windows. The slogan changes every few days.

On Friday, the octogenarian had put up a slogan on the controversial Maharashtra government decision making exhibition of Marathi films in multiplexes compulsory.

Today, Chudasama had just stepped out of his office around 4pm when the stick-wielding men barged in. "They came up and told the staff that Nana had asked them to take off the banner. My staff called me.... I called Nana.... He said: 'I never asked anybody to take off the banner'," said Nafisa Petiwala, convener of I Love Mumbai.

When Petiwala confronted the men, they got aggressive. "They said they were from MNS. Then they pulled out one of our office peons and started shaking him violently. Then they began breaking our furniture. Meanwhile, a massive crowd of MNS activists surrounded our office. Some climbed down our office window and tore the banner," Petiwala said.

The banner was burnt on Marine Drive by the men, disrupting traffic.

An officer of Cuffe Parade police station said four ringleaders had been identified and a case of rioting, trespass and criminal intimidation registered against them. All four are MNS activists, he said.

The MNS could not be reached for comment.

The Shiv Sena chose not to criticise arch rival MNS. "This banner of Nana Chudasama was not necessary.... It was always Shiv Sena who has fought for the son of the soil. MNS have a right to their party programme - protest is nothing wrong," said Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande.

In the past, slogans on the same banner have got Chudasama in trouble. If "Mrs I became high, so people said goodbye" after Indira Gandhi's election loss following Emergency had angered the Congress, "IPL=Intelligent People's loot" had upset BCCI.

"My father has his own views - they are strong. And he cannot be browbeaten," said Shaina.

Will her party stand up for her father, given the silence on hate speeches by members and allies? "MNS is not our ally. Just wait and see what my party does," she said.