Cong-NCP govt in quandary over action against Raj Thackeray

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Monday , May 05, 2008 at 2255 hrs The Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra is in a fix over whether any action should be taken against the MNS chief Raj Thackeray for his anti-north Indians comments on Saturday.

“If we take action against him for fomenting regional hatred, we stand to lose a major chunk of the Marathi votes at a time when elections are due,” a senior political leader of the ruling coalition said.

Whether one agrees to Raj’s views or not, it is clear that he has managed to sway a considerable number of Marathi people by espousing their cause and zeroing in on north Indian migrants as the root cause of their unemployment, he said.

At such a time, one has to weigh the options carefully before taking any action. In fact, there is also the danger of making him a hero by arresting him again, he added.

Police have called for a transcript of Raj’s hour-long speech hereon Saturday night. In February this year, there was a wave of violence over Raj’s remarks against north Indians and the state administration was accused of dilly-dallying over his arrest.

Meanwhile, the MNS has reacted sharply to Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh’s criticism of Raj Thackeray. Singh on Sunday called Raj a mental patient who needs medical care. “It is Amar Singh and his ilk who need attention,” an MNS leader said.

Maharashtra’s former minister of state for home Kripashankar Singh, who has his roots in Uttar Pradesh, described Raj Thackeray's tirade against north Indians as an insult to the broad and all-encompassing culture of Maharashtra.