By IANS
Lucknow : Leaders cutting across party lines in Uttar Pradesh welcomed the arrest of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray in Mumbai Wednesday for inciting attacks on north Indians settled in the metropolis.
“Raj Thackeray should have been arrested earlier. The Maharashtra government deliberately delayed the arrest,” Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Ramapati Tripathi said.
He demanded that the Maharashtra government should ensure that north Indians in the state feel safe.
Akhilesh Pratap Singh, Congress spokesman in the state, defended his party’s government in Maharashtra. “Our government is doing whatever needs to be done.”
He said Thackeray’s arrest showed that the Congress-led government was ready to take the action against anyone who is guilty.
After days of clashes following Thackeray’s remarks ridiculing Mumbai-settled north Indians, especially from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the police Wednesday afternoon arrested him as well as Abu Asim Azmi on charges of inciting hatred among ethnic groups.
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Rita Bahujuna Joshi said: “Neither does anyone have the right to provoke and attempt to divide people in the name of region, language or religion, nor should anyone be allowed to take law into his own hands.”
“The attempts made by certain political leaders to divide people on parochial lines caused much resentment among people belonging to Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, it was really appropriate on the part of the Maharashtra government to have taken action against both leaders.”
Terming the action as an “effective move against divisive forces”, she observed: “It has also proved that no one, however mighty, can be above the law of the land.”
However, Rajendra Chowdhury, the spokesman of the state unit of the Samjawadi Party, criticised Azmi’s arrest, saying it was Thackeray who started the tirade against north Indians in Maharashtra.
Rashtriya Lok Dal spokesman Anil Dubey said: “The right place for those who indulge in violence is jail. Thackeray should have been arrested earlier.”