PUNE — The war declared by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray against north Indian migrants in Mumbai and Pune reached its peak yesterday. Thousands of migrants from north India flocked to the Nagpur Railway Station to depart at the earliest to their hometowns.
According to reports reaching here from Nagpur, about 15,000 migrant laborers and their families fearing for their lives have already left for Chattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states till yesterday afternoon by trains. An ultimatum was issued by the MNS to the north Indian migrant laborers to leave Maharashtra by Feb. 25,
After labor contractors raised their hands off and expressed their inability to provide any security to the migrants, and with the deadline set by the MNS approaching fast to leave the state, migrants were rushing to the railway stations with bags and baggage to escape from the ire of the MNS workers.
Many of the migrant laborers have been working and residing in Nagpur for the past 10 to 15 years. Gripped with fear, none of the migrants were willing to speak to the media. The situation at the cramped railway station was crowded as migrants boarded the Chattisgarh Express train.
Taking political benefit of the situation, several senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders rushed to the railway station to convince the migrants not to leave and assured them of protection, but none of the migrants was willing to stay back.
Trouble seems to be brewing yet again in parts of Pune as the Chatth Puja rituals by the north Indian community is scheduled for Feb. 25.
Federal Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav recently added fuel to the fire of local objections to the rituals when he said that he would dare to perform the Chatth Puja right in front of Raj Bhawan (governor’s house) and challenged the Thackerays to stop him.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday dared Lalu Prasad to perform “Chatth Puja” at Marina Beach in Chennai to oppose the imposition of Tamil by the Karunanidhi government in schools across the state.
The rumor mills have worked overtime to predict that violence is likely to erupt once again on Feb. 25 and the repercussions would be from Pune.
A report published in Mumbai’s Yashbhoomi, a Hindi-language daily popular with migrants, has created panic among the migrants after it published a report as lead on the front page with six-column headline “Ultimatum given to North Indians to leave Maharashtra by February 25,” citing some notices that had allegedly been put up in parts of the city.
The paper’s editor Anand Shukla confirmed that his paper had carried the news after speaking to the migrants and their relatives about the ultimatum.
