Sunday, May 04, 2008

Raj Thackeray at it again, threatens North Indians



In yet another rally on the 3rd of May, Raj Thackeray continued on his North Indian campaign; even though he was apparently counselled by the police and by the state Human Rights Commission, Thackeray refused to be mellowed down. Read examples of what he said:

He said north Indians wanted to take over the state and their ‘chhat pujas’ were meant to be a show of strength. "I declare here today that no other day except Maharashtra Day will be celebrated in Maharashtra," he told the cheering crowds. "Arrest me for this if you can," he dared the police. He told MNS leaders to shed their complacence and advised his supporters to "take action" whenever they felt necessary. "Don’t wait for instructions," he said.
He warned that north Indians who did not speak Marathi and did not respect Marathi culture would be driven away. Thackeray stated that so far, all Presidents of India who hailed from the south, had chosen not to deliver their public addresses in Hindi.
"They stuck to English, or their own native languages. That’s why they survived," he said.


One would consider these as idle threats, except for the fact that his party members have resorted to threats and violence against North Indians in Mumbai and surrounding regions in the past. And for all this talk, that can be compared with the Kashmiri terrorists expelling Pandits, or to a lower extent with figures such as Hitler, what has happened to him ? Has there been any action taken against him ? Has he been held culpable for violence that has happened ?
No ! The Maharashtra CM, Vilasrao Deshmukh, for reasons that are strictly political in nature, has refused to take any action against him that is of a non-verbal nature. In fact, both of them were the prime movers of a drama whereby the police arrested him, took him to a magistrate, and then he was released within an hour. And even the police did this only after many weeks had passed and violence had already been instigated in his name.
Does the Congress really think it will benefit ? The support of North Indians in many areas of Maharashtra is getting more important politically, and the Congress is sure to be facing negative feedback in the politically important states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In the past, the parties supporting the Congress in the center have raised this issue, but have been content with verbal assurances by the Congress, even though the Congress has taken on an air of impotency on this issue.

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posted by Ashish Agarwal @ 3:01 AM