Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has decided to complain to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against a “malicious campaign” underway to tarnish the image of Maharashtra across the country.
MNS’s anti-North Indian campaign has sullied state’s reputation in Delhi
Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has decided to complain to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against a “malicious campaign” underway to tarnish the image of Maharashtra across the country. Singh will arrive in Mumbai on a day’s visit on November 29 to lay the foundation stone for the monorail project.
Although Deshmukh has dashed a letter to the prime minister explaining the measures taken by the state to contain MNS’s activities, the state continues to invite poor projection in Delhi. The state ministers said that nobody is voicing concerns about Maharashtra strongly. Therefore, the chief minister has decided to take the initiative and plead the case personally with the prime minister. A senior official in the CMO said, “The prime minister, by interacting with the captains of industry and bureaucrats, can see for himself if migrants are being ill-treated in the city.”
Deshmukh’s political managers point out how Mumbai has always remained special to the economist prime minister. It is said that the ruling Congress, which is confronted with larger socio-economic and political challenges ahead of the Lok Sabha election, wants to reassert the cosmopolitan character of the city in the presence of Singh.
The state finds itself isolated in the battle against migrants because none of its representatives in the Union cabinet has taken up the cause strongly. There are nine ministers from the state in the Union cabinet — Shivraj Patil (Home), Sharad Pawar (Agriculture), Murli Deora (Petroleum), Sushil Kumar Shinde (Power), Vilas Muttemwar (Conventional Energy), Praful Patel (Civil Aviation), AR Antulay (Minority Affairs), Suryakant Patil (Rural Development) and Prithviraj Chavan (Prime Minister’s
Office).
A Union cabinet minister said, “We decided against joining the issue with north Indian ministers because it would have divided the Union cabinet.” What makes the case against the state difficult is the division within the mainstream parties. The chief minister’s initiative to bring all parties on to a common platform to refurbish the image of state has also failed.
“Almost 300 people migrate to Mumbai daily from outside for a livelihood,” said chief secretary Johny Joseph. A senior police officer said, “Thousands of migrants run stalls without licence. In the present situation, we cannot even question them fearing it would be misconstrued as harassment of north Indians.”
k_subhangi@dnaindia.net 
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