MUMBAI — Taxis went off the roads of Mumbai yesterday to protest attacks by members of a Hindu group on north Indians as the chief minister of Maharashtra went to Delhi to explain the violence. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh met United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chief and Congress President Sonia Gandhi and federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil and apprised them about the situation in the western state.
Reports from Delhi said Deshmukh told Patil that the state government had taken steps to maintain peace and provide security to north Indian migrants after attacks by members of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the state since Feb. 3.
Deshmukh has been under tremendous pressure from several political parties to arrest Raj Thackeray.
The chief minister told Sonia that the state government had sought the opinion of the advocate general and legal experts on the mode of action to be taken against Raj. Legal sources told Arab News that the advocate general had advised the government to arrest Raj on charges of inciting hatred between communities.
The Congress party-led coalition government in the state has been reluctant to take action against Raj fearing violence by his supporters and in view of elections to the Parliament and state assembly next year.
The Bombay Taxi Union (BTU) declared the strike following an attack on its offices by activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Wednesday night.
“Around 25-30 MNS activists barged into our office at Mumbai Central late Wednesday night. They vandalized the office and assaulted some cabbies present there,” BTU Secretary A.L. Quadros said.
There are around 55,000 taxis in Mumbai, of which a majority are BTU members. According to Quadros, the taxi union declared its strike yesterday afternoon after the state government and the police failed to protect them. “The government has neither compensated the taxi drivers nor has it extended protection to the taxi union,” Quadros said.
Bombay Taxi Association (BTA) President Premsingh Dhanna Singh has demanded compensation for the losses suffered on account of the MNS violence. “For the present, we are not joining the strike call by BTU,” Singh said. The BTU committee will decide later on the future course of action, including whether to go on an indefinite strike.
— With input from agencies
