MUMBAI — Several cities in Maharashtra saw an exodus of migrants to their native places in north and south India after violence by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers in Mumbai, Kalyan, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Beed and Nagpur yesterday. The violence followed reports of the likely arrest of MNS President Raj Thackeray.
MNS workers went on a rampage yesterday in Nashik and attacked fruit vendors, mostly from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in the Shalimar Chowk area. The vendors were beaten up and their hand-carts damaged. The injured hawkers were treated at a government hospital.
The mob also damaged and torched some buses. Most schools remained shut.
On Monday night, unidentified people attacked factory workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, another north Indian state. After the attacks many of them have left the city, police said.
Police arrested 30 MNS workers in Nashik on charges of disturbing peace.
In Pune, tension persisted for the second day yesterday. Groups of MNS workers roamed the streets stoning shops and buses. Violence was reported in the Pune Municipal Corporation building area, Shivajinagar, Kothrud, Laxmi Road, Shukruwar Pet, Bhawani Peth and the Cantontment area.
On Monday evening, MNS workers damaged state-run buses and burned copies of The Week magazine, which caricatured Raj Thackeray as “Mumbai’s Hitler.”
Speaking to Arab News, Rajendra Sonawane, Pune’s joint commissioner of police, said that the situation in the city was completely under control and there was no reason for anyone to panic.
“We have mobilized enough force to meet any eventuality. There is no reason for any citizen to panic due to rumors,” Sonawane said. Fearing further outbreak of violence and danger to their lives, nearly 600 migrant families from Uttar Pradesh left Pune for their native places hoping to return only when the situation turns to normal.
Aurangabad and Beed were also tense yesterday with residents fearing violence after the arrest of Raj Thackeray. Yesterday a mob of MNS workers attacked four Aurangabad buses and damaged them. Eight passengers were injured in the attacks and needed hospital treatment.
In Beed, mobs of MNS workers damaged six buses of the Maharashtra Road Transport Corporation on Jalna Road. Shopkeepers downed shutters in the afternoon but opened their shops later after police assured them of protection. Violence was also reported in Majalgaon and Gowrai towns in Beed.
This correspondent traveling to Mumbai from Pune by the expressway had to turn back after being told by people near Kharghar that MNS workers were indulging in violence in Vashi and Nerul in Navi Mumbai.
Mumbai also was tense as news spread of Raj Thackeray’s imminent arrest. Shops and establishments in the commercial districts of Prabhadevi, Chembur, Worli, Ghatkopar and Dadar were closed on the apprehension of violence by MNS workers.
Several top leaders of MNS have gone into hiding fearing arrest. Police were patrolling sensitive areas and frisking people in Mumbai to prevent violence in the event of Raj’s arrest. Police were guarding the houses of Raj and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi, both of whom face arrest for inciting violence.
