NASHIK, India, 20 April 2008 — The Samajwadi Party yesterday warned the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) of unforeseen consequences if attacks on north Indians continued in Maharashtra.
Addressing a news conference here, president of the state unit of the Samajwadi Party Abu Asim Azmi also accused Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh of looking the other way when north Indians were attacked by MNS thugs for fear of losing Maharashtrian votes.
Azmi said a bill should be passed by both houses of Parliament to put an end to the “anti-national activities” of MNS chief Raj Thackeray. He said that when he raised the issue in Parliament, federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil kept repeating that everything was fine in Maharashtra, when it was not. At the press conference Azmi handed a check for 500,000 rupees ($12,500) on behalf of his party to Vimla Devi, wife of Vinod Singh, a north Indian mill worker, who was killed in an anti-migrant attack by MNS activists in Nashik.
He demanded that police charge Raj with murder and robbery as the anti-migrant campaign by MNS has taken the toll of two lives and several people were robbed while fleeing Maharashtra. “Attacks on north Indians in Mumbai are on the rise. It is difficult to remain silent while being beaten by MNS men,” Azmi said. He alleged that two women from Uttar Pradesh were raped by MNS workers during the anti-migrant violence in Nashik and that the incidents went unreported as the victims did not lodge any complaint out of shame. Local people, Azmi said, know the culprits but are too frightened to name them.
