Invoking the issue of Marathi pride, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday hit out at North Indians again, after lying low for two days.
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Saturday defended the violence by his party workers on February 2. He held Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh and Abu Azmi responsible for the incident, and warned that if leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — a thinly-veiled reference to Singh, Azmi and Lalu Prasad Yadav — use aggressive language, the MNS would retaliate.
Speaking at a press conference for the first time since MNS workers clashed with SP men, Thackeray claimed Azmi had provoked his partymen and the violence was an outburst against that.
He said he will never stand for leaders from UP and Bihar trying to flex their muscles in Maharashtra. “I will not deny that MNS workers were involved in the violence,” Thackeray said.
“But whatever happened, was absolutely correct. I alone am not responsible for that. Amar Singh and Azmi provoked us. They threatened to bring 20,000 people from Azamgadh and attack us. That is why MNS workers got angry.”
Thackeray added: “A number of Tamils live in Mumbai, but Jayalalitha or Karunanidhi don’t come here. Garba and Navratri are also celebrated here. But the UP and Bihar leaders try to show their might through things like the Chhat Puja. This is a puja to be performed on the Ganga, not in the Arabian Sea. I will not tolerate this, even though I am being criticised for it.”
Despite the clamour calling for his arrest, Thackeray appeared quite relaxed. He chatted about Rabri Devi performing the Chhat Puja near an artificial lake with some Ganga jal, and rubbished Amar Singh’s claim that the MNS had threatened him. “In Mumbai, Sikh cabbies were safe even during the Khalistan movement,” he said. “Why do only drivers from UP and Bihar say they are targetted? These are the same people who behave rudely with customers and attend rallies organised by Amar Singh and Azmi. Maharashtrians are hard workers. But if somebody takes away their jobs, what else can they do?”
Thackeray clarified that he had compared himself with Amitabh Bachchan over the issue of regional pride. “I said that if a personality like Amitabh Bachchan can be proud of his motherland, Uttar Pradesh, why can’t Raj Thackeray feel the same way about Maharashtra?” he said.
Thackeray denied he has taken anticipatory bail, and said it was up to the government to arrest him. He added, however, that he had done nothing wrong to merit arrest, and claimed that he had the support of the people - contrary to the notion that he was alienating supporters with the Marathi issue. Refusing comment on Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s comments about MNS, he said he no longer reads the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}