Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Maharashtrian-outsider debate is all set to heat up once again. Speaking on the issue for the first time, Amitabh Bachchan has dismissed the allegation by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray that he had done more for Uttar Pradesh than for Mumbai.
In an interview to a national daily, Bachchan said, “This is a free country and everyone has the liberty of free speech. The law of the land is and its constitution supreme. Every Indian should be affected by that. Random charges are random. They do not deserve the kind of attention you wish me to give them."
Bachchan's comments come even as a group of north Indians in Mumbai allege they were beaten up by MNS activists on Saturday.
In a complaint filed at Mumbai’s Santa Cruz police station, the five men said the incident took place when they were on their way to bathe in the sea after taking part in Holi celebrations.
They claim they were rounded up by a group of 10-15 people, who beat them up on learning that they were from Bihar.
The victims claim the assailants were MNS workers, and were shouting party slogans while beating them up.
“They asked us where we are from and when we said Bihar, they said *#%&* and then they beat us with hockey sticks, lathis and sariyas,” one of the complainants, Surendra Jagdsih Jha said.
Police Inspector of the Santacruz police station Dattatreya Jadhav also confirmed that in the complaint it has been registered that “the accused were shouting slogans about MNS while beating the complainants.”
Migrants in Mumbai
Ironically, the latest Economic Survey reveals that the majority of migrants to urban Maharashtra, including Mumbai, do not come from north India.
According to the survey, only 32 per cent of migrants to urban Maharashtra are from other states, while around 42 per cent are from within Maharashtra.
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The survey also debunks the money order theory of migrants earning in Mumbai and sending their money home.
Earlier this month, the ruling Congress had also jumped the bandwagon over the migrant issue with Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh complaining about the burden of influx on the state's infrastructure.
Deshmukh joined the issue saying Mumbai's infrastructure was under tremendous strain due to continuous migration of people into the city.
"There is a strain on basic amenities such as water and railways that have to bear the burden of migrant influx into the state. But there's no way it can be stopped. There are no laws that stop people from going to any particular state," Deshmukh said.
He, however, steered clear of the Marathi versus North Indian debate, saying the state does not subscribe to such views. "The culture of Maharashtra does not differentiate people on the basis of their language and culture," he said.
In the same breath, the Congress CM however asserted that Marathi will continue to be Maharashtra's official language and that the state government would not compromise on the issue at all.
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