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Mumbai: Once again Mumbai was subjected to the mindless mob fury of political workers targeting North Indians and popular actor Amitabh Bachchan.
As supporters of Raj Thackeray, president of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), went on a rampage in the city, Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary Amar Singh filed a police complaint against him early yesterday morning and has demanded his arrest for disrupting an SP rally and attacking workers.
The past two days were marked by Thackeray's men beating up taxi drivers who hail from north India, particularly Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and smashing their taxis, throwing out food vendors and attacking party workers who had come to attend the public rally at Shivaji Park in Dadar.
Late on Sunday, the situation worsened when two empty liquor bottles were thrown by two motorcyclists at actor Amitabh Bachchan's house, Prateeksha, in Juhu, despite policemen guarding his house.
The actor's posters were torn in many parts of the city today. There were no family members in the house at the time of the incident. Also, movie halls showing a Bhojpuri (a north Indian dialect of Hindi) film in Thane and Nashik were attacked and viewers beaten up.
The violence began after MNS workers took a cue from their leader, who had made comments against North Indians, asking them to behave like Maharashtrians by following the culture of the state and not performing their own "Chhat Puja" (form of worshipping).
Thackeray had also attacked Bachchan, who he said had prospered in Maharashtra but did nothing for the state and instead chose Uttar Pradesh to open a school in Barabanki. Bachchan's wife Jaya had hit back saying that the only Thackeray she knew was Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and his son Uddhav.
The remarks led to a confrontation between MNS and SP workers at the rally addressed by former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
"We were holding a peaceful rally at Shivaji Park when hooligans from MNS attacked our workers," Abdul Qader Choudhary, SP spokesman told Gulf News.
"The police arrested around 15 MNS men but what pains us is that Raj Thackeray is creating a gulf between the residents of this cosmopolitan city."
He said the police also arrested five SP activists. "Singh was visiting Amitabh Bachchan's family in Juhu late Sunday night when he was told about our party workers being detained by the police," he said.
"He immediately proceeded to town to meet Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh who declined to see him.
He therefore filed a First Information Report at Azad Maidan police station at 3 am today" he said. "I was among those detained by the police," he added.
The violence has angered people across the city even as the chief minister assured that "stern action" would be taken against the culprits.
Violence
Probe to be launched
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's controversial remarks on north Indian people led to clashes in parts of Maharashtra on Sunday.
While the state government ordered a high-level probe into the violence, a group called for a protest shutdown in Mumbai yesterday.
Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil announced late Sunday that the state's director general of police and Mumbai's police commissioner will investigate the violence.
The Uttar Bharatiya Development Forum, an umbrella organisation of various groups of north Indians in the city, called for a protest closure.
MNS activists allegedly indulged in throwing stones at north Indian business establishments and homes in some parts of Raigad district, south of Mumbai.
Police resorted to baton-charge when over a thousand MNS supporters attacked some north Indians at Dadar in central Mumbai Sunday afternoon.
- IANS
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