MUMBAI, June 14 -- The emergence of white strips on the streets of Dadar on Saturday morning led to a face-off between the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and members of the Jain community. Local residents and MNS members raised their voices against the white stripes painted by unknown persons at the centre of D S Babrekar Marg, close to Gokhale Road at Dadar (W), and called for their erasure. A police team arrived due to the escalating tensions, with senior MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande demanding removal of the strips by 3 pm. The white stripes are painted with limestone for Jain monks during the monsoon months so that they can see insects clearly on the streets and avoid trampling them, said Swami Devendra Brahmachari Maharaj, founder of the Mahavirayatan Foundation. "Besides, this also helps cool down the surface for barefoot monks," he said. Deshpande contended that Jains could do whatever they wanted in their own buildings, but they could not draw lines on public roads without permission. "Such cultural imposition should be opposed by every citizen," he told HT. Saturday also saw a brief standoff between the MNS and Jain community members at the gate of the new Jain derasar, which came up six years ago. Tensions were diffused after workers from the BMC's local ward were set to obliterating the white stripes. After they failed to wash the white paint off, they painted the strips over with grey paint. MNS corporator Yashwant Killedar, who hails from the neighbourhood, pointed out that such incidents created disharmony. "Communities have been living here harmoniously for years; then why are such white strips emerging only recently?" he asked. Killedar alleged that the episode was a "tactic to divert attention from pressing issues like rising inflation and unemployment". Yogesh Desai, assistant municipal commissioner of the ward, wrote to the senior police inspectors of Shivaji Park, Mahim and Dadar police stations, seeking action against defacement of public property and increased patrolling to prevent such incidents. Tensions have been simmering between native Maharashtrians and the Jain community on several issues, one of them being the opposition to, and subsequent closure of, the kabutarkhana at Dadar. "We have no intention of imposing our ideas or culture on others," Swami Devendra Brahmachari Maharaj said. "Jain devotees should refrain from drawing such lines if others do not like it."...