By IANS
New Delhi : The issue of north Indian migrants in Mumbai is threatening to divide the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Monday described the utterances against north Indian migrants by the Sena factions as unconstitutional.
Emerging from a book release function here, Advani, who is the BJP/NDA prime ministerial candidate for the next general elections, described the violence against north Indians in Mumbai by Raj Thackeray’s party activists and the threats by Udhav Thackeray as “against national integrity”.
“We cannot accept this, what is happening in Maharashtra. What Raj and Udhav are saying, that people of Uttar Pradesh and north India should not live in Mumbai, is against the constitution. It is against national integration,” he said.
Earlier, BJP president Rajnath Singh had termed the violence in Mumbai as unfortunate.
Singh said: “India is a geo-cultural nation. We have a Lord Krishna temple in Guruvayur and Kashi. Mumbai belongs as much to the people from Kashi as Kashi belongs to the people from Mumbai.”
The Shiv Sena is the oldest ally of the BJP and they both share ideological affinity with Hindutva.
Last week, activists of the Mahrashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray beat up north Indian taxi drivers and shop owners in Mumbai. On Sunday, Udhav Thackeray, who leads Shiv Sena, jumped on board the ‘Maratha bandwagon’ and said there were no jobs for outsiders at the work going on to renovate Mumbai’s airport.
In fact, he also said that non-Marathi workers would be put in a cargo plane and sent back.
According to sources, in Maharashtra and specially Mumbai the BJP vote bank mainly consists of non-Maharashtrian settlers and if the Shiv Sena presses ahead with its anti-north Indian agenda, this could seriously dent the BJP vote bank in Maharashtra.