MUMBAI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sent a three-page strongly worded letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, stating that the Congress-NCP-led Democratic Front government has soft peddled on the issue of handling Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
“During the last few weeks, the MNS has created havoc throughout the state and the state government has remained a mute spectator to the attacks on the migrants from north India. How can the state government remain helpless in such a situation? If the MNS workers are not stopped in time from indulging in violence and rampage activities, then there is a great threat not only to peace, law and order but greater danger to the unity of the country,” Singh said.
The prime minister further advised Deshmukh not only to ensure to take deemed action against Raj for the recent troubles in the state by his party but also take steps to avoid such incidents in the future.
After the recent killing of a Bihari youth, Rahul Raj, in a police encounter last week in a local Bombay Electricity and Suburban Transport bus, leaders of all political parties came together and met the prime minister demanding that Raj be arrested and his MNS party be banned.
It was only then that the prime minister wrote the letter to Deshmukh and demanded that the state chief minister send him a detailed report of what was happening in the state.
