Cases Filed against Thackeray, Azmi
Patna: February 11, 2008
The police in Maharashtra on Friday filed two separate cases against the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi for making provocative statements meant to divide people based on their regional backgrounds.
Both cases are unbailable and carry a sentence of 5-10 years in prison, officials said.
On Friday, Shiv Sena goons in Shirdi and Ahmednagar desecrated business signs written in Tamil and Telugu and beat up a 'Pani-puri wala' from Uttar Pradesh.
The latest attacks against North Indians and other non-Maharashtrians came in the wake of the Maharashtra-based Week magazine putting an image of Raj Thackeray with a likeness to Adolph Hitler.
The Shiv Sainiks also attacked several places in Pune while destroying three buses owned by non-Marathi businessmen.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav described the Thackerays actions as most unlike Marathi culture that had always welcomed people from outside making Mumbai a true melting pot of the nation.
Meanwhile in Patna, Janata Dal – U national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari, while condemning attacks on North Indians in Maharashtra, said the two cousins, Raj and Uddhav, were competing against each other to earn cheap publicity and votes from the Maharashtrians.
"It is a war of attrition between the two brothers and the losers in this war are none other than the good people of Maharashtra," Tiwari said adding the Indian Constitution gave freedom to all Indian citizens to move freely in the country and settle anywhere without having any fear of discrimination or threat.
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