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Uddhav advances Raj plan, moots permits for migrants
Taking a cue from his estranged cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s controversial threat to brand all migrants from Bihar as “infiltrators”, Shiv Sena’s executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday also revived the migrants’ issue and rooted for the introduction of a “permit system” to check the influx of Biharis into Mumbai.
In a statement published in his party’s official mouthpiece Saamna, Uddhav hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for defending the stand taken by his State’s secretary that the Maharashtra police would have to take the permission of his Government before arresting a criminal holed up in the northern State.
Uddhav also warned Kumar that Shiv Sena, which is a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, would not accept the latter as the NDA candidate for the Prime Minister’s post, if he insisted on backing a “traitor” like the one arrested from Bihar early last week.
“If our police have to seek a prior permission from their counterparts in Bihar to track down and arrest a miscreant who has fled to that State after committing a crime in Maharashtra, then it is necessary to introduce a permit system for migrants coming to Mumbai from Bihar,” Uddhav said.
Uddhav was alluding to the arrest of a 19-year-old boy made by the Mumbai police from Sitamarhi early last week for allegedly vandalising the Amar Jawan memorial during the August 11 Azad Maidan riots and the letter reportedly written by the Bihar chief secretary to the Mumbai commissioner, informing the latter that the visiting team of city police should have kept their counterparts in the northern state in the loop about the arrest made by them.
“In fact, Nitish Kumar should have felt ashamed to learn that the boy arrested for the vandalising the Amar Jawan memorial was indeed a Bihari,” Uddhav said. The Sena leader said that the Bihar CM should have avoided raking up a controversy by talking about the arrest made by the Mumbai police in his State. He said that that his party would not tolerate if the migrants from Bihar continued to indulge in day-light thefts, robberies and murders in Mumbai. On whether his party would accept Kumar’s candidature as the NDA’s candidate for the PM’s post-2014 elections, Uddhav said: “If Kumar’s approach of backing a traitor continues, then we will never accept him as the Prime Ministerial candidate.” Though he indirectly complimented the MNS chief’s stand of pursuing issues that the Shiv Sena had long been crusading for, Uddhav did not lose any opportunity to have a jibe at his cousin.
“The Shiv Sena chief has been consistent in his stand on issues like Marathi pride rights of the sons of the soil and opposition to Pakistani artistes. The Sena has never given up these issues. I am happy that there are followers who want to pursue these issues. Tomorrow, they may even say Shiv Sena Zindabad. But taking up of old issues like these, how can there be a navnirman?” Uddhav said.
All the same, Uddhav has virtually carried forward the migrant issue raised by Raj on Friday. Raj had on that day said that the MNS would label all migrants from Bihar as “infiltrators” and throw them out of Maharashtra if the Nitish Kumar Government posed hurdles to the Mumbai police tracking down and arresting criminals holed up in the northern State.
Referring to letter written by the Bihar chief secretary to the Mumbai police commissioner expressing reservations about the manner in which Abdul Qadir Ansari (19) was arrested from Sitamarhi on August 27, Raj had warned the Nitish Kumar government by saying: “And if the chief secretary of Bihar poses obstacles to our police officials in tracing down and arresting the criminals holed up in his state, then we will be forced to treat each and every migrant from Bihar as an infiltrator and force him out of Maharashtra”.
Taking strong exception to the Bihar chief secretary’s threat of initiating legal action against policemen arresting the criminal wanted by the Mumbai police, Raj said: “The migrants from Bihar commit crimes. And the Chief Secretary from that state threatens our officials with legal action. It is strange that the media is silent on the issue”. He had also wondered as to why the Bihar chief minister or political leaders were not talking about the issue.
However, following his comments, Raj has come in for wide-spread criticism from north Indian political leaders. The Nalanda police in Bihar have also gone ahead and registered a case against the MNS for the ‘hate speech’.
Taking a cue from his estranged cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s controversial threat to brand all migrants from Bihar as “infiltrators”, Shiv Sena’s executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday also revived the migrants’ issue and rooted for the introduction of a “permit system” to check the influx of Biharis into Mumbai.
In a statement published in his party’s official mouthpiece Saamna, Uddhav hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for defending the stand taken by his State’s secretary that the Maharashtra police would have to take the permission of his Government before arresting a criminal holed up in the northern State.
Uddhav also warned Kumar that Shiv Sena, which is a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, would not accept the latter as the NDA candidate for the Prime Minister’s post, if he insisted on backing a “traitor” like the one arrested from Bihar early last week.
“If our police have to seek a prior permission from their counterparts in Bihar to track down and arrest a miscreant who has fled to that State after committing a crime in Maharashtra, then it is necessary to introduce a permit system for migrants coming to Mumbai from Bihar,” Uddhav said.
Uddhav was alluding to the arrest of a 19-year-old boy made by the Mumbai police from Sitamarhi early last week for allegedly vandalising the Amar Jawan memorial during the August 11 Azad Maidan riots and the letter reportedly written by the Bihar chief secretary to the Mumbai commissioner, informing the latter that the visiting team of city police should have kept their counterparts in the northern state in the loop about the arrest made by them.
“In fact, Nitish Kumar should have felt ashamed to learn that the boy arrested for the vandalising the Amar Jawan memorial was indeed a Bihari,” Uddhav said. The Sena leader said that the Bihar CM should have avoided raking up a controversy by talking about the arrest made by the Mumbai police in his State. He said that that his party would not tolerate if the migrants from Bihar continued to indulge in day-light thefts, robberies and murders in Mumbai. On whether his party would accept Kumar’s candidature as the NDA’s candidate for the PM’s post-2014 elections, Uddhav said: “If Kumar’s approach of backing a traitor continues, then we will never accept him as the Prime Ministerial candidate.” Though he indirectly complimented the MNS chief’s stand of pursuing issues that the Shiv Sena had long been crusading for, Uddhav did not lose any opportunity to have a jibe at his cousin.
“The Shiv Sena chief has been consistent in his stand on issues like Marathi pride rights of the sons of the soil and opposition to Pakistani artistes. The Sena has never given up these issues. I am happy that there are followers who want to pursue these issues. Tomorrow, they may even say Shiv Sena Zindabad. But taking up of old issues like these, how can there be a navnirman?” Uddhav said.
All the same, Uddhav has virtually carried forward the migrant issue raised by Raj on Friday. Raj had on that day said that the MNS would label all migrants from Bihar as “infiltrators” and throw them out of Maharashtra if the Nitish Kumar Government posed hurdles to the Mumbai police tracking down and arresting criminals holed up in the northern State.
Referring to letter written by the Bihar chief secretary to the Mumbai police commissioner expressing reservations about the manner in which Abdul Qadir Ansari (19) was arrested from Sitamarhi on August 27, Raj had warned the Nitish Kumar government by saying: “And if the chief secretary of Bihar poses obstacles to our police officials in tracing down and arresting the criminals holed up in his state, then we will be forced to treat each and every migrant from Bihar as an infiltrator and force him out of Maharashtra”.
Taking strong exception to the Bihar chief secretary’s threat of initiating legal action against policemen arresting the criminal wanted by the Mumbai police, Raj said: “The migrants from Bihar commit crimes. And the Chief Secretary from that state threatens our officials with legal action. It is strange that the media is silent on the issue”. He had also wondered as to why the Bihar chief minister or political leaders were not talking about the issue.
However, following his comments, Raj has come in for wide-spread criticism from north Indian political leaders. The Nalanda police in Bihar have also gone ahead and registered a case against the MNS for the ‘hate speech’.
