Replying to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thackeray's remarks against him, Amitabh Bachchan has stated that India is a free country and everyone has the right to live wherever they please. This is the first time Bachchan has reacted in public against Thackeray ever since the latter targetted him for being more loyal to his hometown, Uttar Pradesh, rather than Maharashtra, where he has been residing for more than 40 years.
In a resolution adopted at the ongoing 20th Congress of the party in Hyderabad on Tuesday, the CPI strongly condemned 'the divisive anti-national agitation started by MNS and other forces' in Mumbai and other places in Maharashtra.
Sooner or later, India will have to address the issue of regional disparity. Unfortunately the solution lies in social and political reforms in the BIMARU states. Presently there seems no sign of it.
The attack on North Indians in Maharashtra generated major uproar in the Lok Sabha on Monday, with demands that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray be detained under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act and that he be disenfranchised. Members from Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party, most of them belonging to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, expressed grave concern over the attack on North Indians in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday moved a court afresh seeking quashing of the extension of the police order prohibiting him from holding rallies, public meetings and addressing the media.
The gag order was issued on February 14 following Raj's statements against north Indian migrants that had led to violence in the metropolis and parts of Maharashtra.
Against the backdrop of exodus of North Indian labourers, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in Nashik has asked trained Marathi workers to register themselves with the party to enable them to get jobs in local industries.
The Supreme Court on Friday expressed displeasure over Raj Thackeray's remarks on people coming to Mumbai from other states.
"No programme like UP Day, which shows north Indians' poltical goondaism will be allowed to take place here (Mumbai). We will first request them with folded hands. If that does not work, we will face them with open hands," Thackeray said in an interview to Marathi weekly Lokprabha.
The police on Friday arrested two more Maharashtra Navnirman Sena students' wing activists in connection with the death of an Hindustan Aeronautical Limited employee due to the violence sparked off after the arrest of party chief Raj Thackeray.
Speaking to reporters at Ranchi on Thursday, the RJD leader said that if possible, he would go to Mumbai to perform Chhat puja. Responding to Prasad's comments, MNS spokesperson and former MLC Shishir Shinde said, "The people of Maharashtra will respond when the time comes. You will also see action from MNS."
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's student wing chief was arrested in connection with the death of a Hindustan Aeronautics Limited employee, who was killed in a stone-pelting incident, in Nashik on Thursday. The incident occurred while MNS activists were protesting the arrest of their chief Raj Thackeray in Mumbai. Ambadas Haribhau Dharrao, 55, was returning home from Ojhar when he was hit by stones near Adgaon, police said.
"There has been no untoward incident in Mumbai since Wednesday and more than 140 people have been taken into custody in Mumbai," police sources said.
What if Raj does not move for bail: If he declines to move for bail, he will be first sent to judicial remand for 14 days, which will be extended till the charge sheet is filed
Dozens of people took to the streets to celebrate the news of Thackeray's likely arrest. "We are playing with colours to celebrate the likely police action against Raj Thackeray, who made a mockery of the Chhath festival and made remarks against Biharis," said student leader Manoranjan Singh, while playing with dry colours at the busy Dak Bungalow square in Patna.
Arrests are mandatory in cases registered against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi, a top police official said on Monday.
Raj said," If the Prime Minister can rake up the issue of ban on turbans for the Sikhs in France when the French President came to India, if Karunanidhi could take up the issue of problems of Tamils in Malaysia with the Malaysian government, if the Hindi channels in Mumbai spew venom against Maharashtra while supporting the people from UP and Bihar, then how come I am dubbed as a goonda when I speak about the self-respect of the state ?".
A Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activist was murdered in Pune on Thursday, the police said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to save the lives of thousands of north Indians living in Mumbai and other parts of Maharastra.
Terming the troublemakers as 'anti-national', Lalu said no one has the right to violate the fundamental rights of the people. About MNS leader Raj Thackeray, Prasad said, "He is desperate and such type of leader will never be successful in the country. The Government should take action against him and his supporters".
A day after he likened Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray to saitan (devil), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday demanded stern action against him for his remarks against north Indians and the Chhath festival.
"We condemn in unequivocal terms the attack on the Biharis. Under the constitution of India, they have a right to settle down anywhere in the country and earn their livelihood," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Wading into the ongoing Indian Premier League controversy, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Friday accused Union Minister and former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar for the mess in the Twenty20 league.
Thackeray said that though Bachchan has become a superstar in Mumbai, his heart is more inclined towards Uttar Pradesh than Maharashtra.
Even as parties continue to battle it out, here's a list of some interesting candidates who have thrown their hat into the ring. Even as parties continue to battle it out, here's a list of some interesting candidates who have thrown their hat into the ring.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Shivaji Bhor was attacked by two unidentified persons near Chhatrapati Maharaj statue in Nashik, police said on Friday.
Speaking at a book release function on Wednesday in Mumbai, Thackeray said that it was Bhatt who had given false and misleading information to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan that lead to the filing of FIR against his party men. "I will show Mahesh Bhatt who I am the day he comes in my range," said Thackeray.
A day after Shiv Sena chief was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, his estranged nephew paid a visit to the hospital along wth his wife.
As the political turmoil in Maharashtra continues to unfold, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shide spoke to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray about the recent political situation in the state, confirmed MNS leader on Monday.
The court refused to grant transit remand to the prosecution for Raj Thackeray to be producd in a Jamshedpur court.The Mazagon sessions court released Thackeray on personal bond of Rs 50,000.
The total income of national and regional parties from unknown sources for 2020-21 stands at Rs 690.67 crore.
"What's the difference between north Indians and Indians? All of us are Indians," a bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and G S Singhvi quipped, while posting for Monday a PIL seeking judicial inquiry into the killing of a Bihari youth, Rahul Raj, in a police encounter and the murder of another north Indian in Mumbai last month
A gunman, hailing from Bihar, who had come to the city to pass on a message to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, was gunned down by police in an exchange of fire after he kept a conductor of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus hostage near Bailbazaar area in the eastern suburb of Kurla.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray has literally found himself in a 'legal soup', as he started his day on Thursday by attending various police stations in Mumbai. Thackeray was released on bail on Wednesday by a Kalyan court in a rioting case and reached home at around 1800 hours after spending 38 hours with the police, including a night in Dombivli's Manpada police lock-up.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray headed for home after a Kalyan court granted him interim bail on Wednesday in a case related to violence in Dombivali against north Indians attending a railway exam.
"It is a shame on our government who do not utter anything favouring Marathi people...They are not prompt and keen enough for Maharashtrians," the MNS said in a SMS sent to the media.
If there was no pressure, then how come the decision to sack staff was reverted within 12 hours, asked Raj.
'Why should we have to complain about its forced usage or suffocate having someone pushing it down our throats?'
Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which won 13 of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, has been recognised as a state party and will be allotted a permanent election symbol. The party contested the October 13 polls using the Railway Engine, a temporary symbol allotted to it by the commission. "As per our norms, a party, in order to be recognised as a state party, should win at least three per cent of the total number of seats in the House," said an EC official.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thackeray has accepted Amitabh Bachchan's apology, and said that he will take back his agitation against the Bachchan family.
