By IANS
Mumbai : The acrimony between the Samajwadi Party and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) took a violent turn in parts of Maharashtra Sunday even as actor Jaya Bachchan finally replied to Raj Thackeray on behalf of her husband, film star Amitabh Bachchan.
In Nashik, MNS activists barged into a cinema house exhibiting a Bhojpuri movie and damaged the theatre and assaulted some of the people watching a matinee show.
MNS activists allegedly indulged in throwing stones at north Indian business establishments and homes in some parts of Raigad district, south of Mumbai.
The police resorted to cane-charge when over a thousand MNS supporters attacked some north Indians at Dadar in central Mumbai Sunday afternoon.
In the ensuing scuffle, several food and vegetable stalls run by north Indians were damaged or destroyed.
The MNS activists also targeted taxis sporting Samajwadi Party flags and damaged at least two taxis in the area and assaulted a cabbie. The violent incidents happened in full view of the Mumbai police.
In the last few days, Raj Thackeray, the estranged nephew of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, has repeatedly ridiculed people from north India settled in Mumbai and also Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who is close to the Samajwadi Party, the leading opposition party in Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav held a rally barely two kilometres from Dadar suburb here. The rally was addressed by other leaders of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), including Telugu Desam Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, National Conference chief Frooq Abdullah and Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, and his party’s Maharashtra unit chief Abu Asim Azmi.
Yadav pointed out that all Indians have a right to live and work anywhere in the country. “The Samajwadi Party will give a fitting reply to anybody who dares to stop them,” he declared amidst a thunderous applause.
City Samajwadi Party president Farooq Ghosi said the rally, which attracted over 200,000 people, was a success and passed off peacefully in view of adequate security measures.
“Yesterday, MNS goons disrupted Amar Singh’s press conference. Today (Sunday) they threatened well-known Bhojpuri singer Manoj Tewari with dire consequences for agreeing to perform at the pre-rally function,” Ghosi told IANS.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Niket Kaushik told IANS that the police stepped up security measures following widespread rumours that MNS activists would attack north Indians arriving by trains at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus near the Bandra-Kurla Complex.
He said there were no untoward incidents.
Last week, on several fora, Raj Thackeray lashed out at the north Indians on different issues, including performing Chhath Puja, a festival especially popular in Bihar. He demanded that they must only celebrate Maharashtrian festivals.
At another forum, Raj launched another attack against the Bachchan family for being more concerned about Uttar Pradesh than Maharashtra. He even questioned Amitabh Bachchan’s decision to promote Uttar Pradesh as its brand ambassador earlier.
“Since he has lived and flourished in Maharashtra, why can’t he promote this state?” he said and also questioned the move to construct a girls school in Uttar Pradesh named after Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter-in-law and film star Aishwarya Rai, for which the foundation stone was laid last Sunday.
“Are there no girls in Maharashtra? Why can’t they construct a school here?” he asked.
While Amitabh Bachchan has refrained from replying to him, Jaya Bachchan said: “For me, Shri Bal Thackeray is a like a father and (his son) Uddhav is like a son. I don’t know any other Thackeray.”
When reporters asked her about the school project, Jaya Bachchan said the Bachchans would gladly construct a school in Maharashtra too if Raj Thackeray was willing to donate land.
Raj Thackeray’s utterances have not only evoked nationwide condemnation but also forced an embarrassed Shiv Sena to rally behind the Bachchans.
Barely a fortnight ago, Bachchan was the chief guest at a function to release “Ummeed”, a debut musical album by Uddhav’s son Aditya, in which Bal Thackeray was present too.
“Amitabh Bachchan is not only Uttar Pradesh’s brand ambassador, but India’s brand ambassador, he is a great artist who is known the world over,” observed Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who is also the executive editor of the party mouthpiece Saamna.
Congress state spokesman Sanjay Nirupam has said that Raj Thackeray’s remarks need to be treated as a “joke”. “Taking out processions is not the solution, the only reply to such thinking is to celebrate all festivals with renewed vigour,” he said.