Railway minister Lalu Prasad said Raj Thackeray has “lost his mental balance”. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his deputy RR Patil too talked tough.
MUMBAI: Railway minister Lalu Prasad said Raj Thackeray has “lost his mental balance”. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his deputy RR Patil too talked tough.
But that was much later on Sunday. By then, activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had done the damage, attacking hundreds of north Indians who had come to Mumbai and other parts of the state for a two-day examination of the All India Railway Recruitment Board.
The violence to protest “inadequate representation to Maharashtra in railway recruitment” started late on Saturday with MNS activists attacking north Indian candidates at Kalyan, Thane and Dombivli stations.
The violence continued till Sunday afternoon as lathi-wielding MNS workers pelted stones and barged into examination centres in Kalyan, Thane, Bandra, Andheri, Borivli, Nalasopara, and Dombivli. They attacked the aspirants, tore off their answer papers and disrupted the exam.
Similar scenes were played out in Kolhapur, Nashik and Pune. According to railway officials at least half a dozen candidates were injured and around 6,000 couldn’t appear in the exam across the state.
The police arrested more than 50 MNS activists in the city and elsewhere in the state. They also had to use force to stop the violence in some cases.
“I have come all the way from Patna. I wanted a job in railways. What is my fault? Why should I get trapped in politics?” said Ashok Paswan, a candidate. But their voices were drowned in political sound bytes.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who has been debarred from speaking in public, said. “I am fighting for the cause of Marathi manoos…We have had enough of bhaiyyas’ tamasha,” he said.
Reacting to the violence, Lalu said: “Raj Thackeray has lost his mental balance… I strongly condemn the incident. There should be an inquiry into the attack...MNS should be banned.”
The railway minister also promised to take up the issue with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Deshmukh “strongly condemned” the MNS violence saying: “The state cannot endorse such [an] act. The law will deal sternly with the MNS.”
Patil also went into a huddle with the top brass.
Later in the evening, Patil promised government jobs to all the north Indian candidates who couldn’t appear in the railway examination.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar called Deshmukh to express his concern over the development while Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam and NCP spokesperson Gurunath Kulkarni demanded “strict action” against MNS activists.
An angry Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief Kripa Shankar said, “It’s an act of inhumanity. Mumbai always believed in accommodating the people from all sections and religion. Such incident brings shame to the city. The government should deal with the MNS firmly.”
But MNS general secretary Pravin Darekar said, “It [the violence] was not pre-planned. We are against the railway board for not giving adequate representation to Maharashtra in railway recruitment. The state quota is also being usurped by the Bihari and UPites. Why should we allow this injustice? We will continue to fight.”
Reacting to the railway minister’s statement, he said: “Lalu Prasad Yadav’s nautanki is known to the world. He should implement fair practice in job recruitment in railway sector.”
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