Click to play videoMumbai: At 0300 hrs IST on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government finally acted after days of dithering. Maharashtra Police arrested Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief, Raj Thackeray from Ratanagiri, 380 km from Mumbai.
Raj Thackeray was arrested for provoking hatred among communities as his supporters vented their anger by indulging in mindless violence and torching public transport to hold India's financial capital to ransom.
The news of his arrest reached the metropolis before he did and even that early in the day, MNS activists were on the streets, venting their anger on private and government property.
As the day progressed, so did the violence on Mumbai's streets. Public transport was targetted, taxis and scooters stayed off the roads, shops and schools shut down in several areas to avoid any trouble. The office of the state Congress spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam was also vandalised.
Broken glass pieces on the road were evidence enough of the conflict between security agencies and unruly MNS supporters. The incident may be Raj Thackeray's opportunity to gain political mileage and show political strength to his opponents, but for an average Mumbaikar this is nothing but hooliganism, an identity the MNS seems to be proud of.
There was no curfew but office goers were told to return home and many commercial establishments, especially those run or managed by non-Maharashtrians, chose not to open at all. All schools and colleges closed and most Mumbai streets were deserted as scared residents hid in their houses to avoid the wrath of the MNS.
The toll by mid-afternoon - 38 public buses set on fire, at least 40 private vehicles damaged in stone throwing, 350 taxis and 60 autorickshaws damaged or burnt, nearly 90 percent of the total 105,000 autorickshaws and 66,000 taxis off the roads. And the result, massive inconvenience to Mumbaikars caught in the crossfire as police were forced to fire teargas shells and wield the stick to control the mobs.
Describing the arrest as a cowardly act, MNS' Nagpur unit chief Hemant Gadkari told agencies that about 100 young party workers grouped in four motorcycle squads fanned out to different parts of the city to register their protest.
There was violence in other parts of Maharashtra too. In Satara town, for instance, MNS workers set fire to a bus depot, while in Nagpur several state transport buses were attacked. The police made about 2,000 preventive arrests.
RIPPLES IN BIHAR
The ripples were felt in Bihar too as candidates returned home after the assault. The fact that Pawan Mahto from Nalanda district, one of the hundreds of students from Bihar hoping for a job in railways, died after the attack fuelled the fires.
Pawan's father Jagdish Mahto, who had come here to receive his son's body, said: "The Mumbai police called and said he was killed in a stampede after MNS workers attacked north Indian students at the exam centre."
Screaming that Pawan had been killed by the MNS, youths ransacked the railway station to protest the state government's alleged failure to protect Biharis.
BAIL WITHIN MINUTES
Raj Thackeray was finally produced at the Bandra court where party activists earlier had pitched battles with the police and Samajwadi Party activisits. The stone throwing and police lathicharge injured several, includig two CNN-IBN journalists.
The Bandra court though granted him bail within minutes in the case of the attack on north Indian candidates in Chetna College in Bandra.
Forty-year-old Raj Thackeray -- an amateur cartoonist known till less than a year ago essentially as Bal Thackeray's nephew who split from the Shiv Sena to form the MNS -- was charged with provoking hatred among communities as well rioting, assault and damage to property after his supporters Sunday added another chapter to their campaign against non-Maharashtrians, particularly Biharis.
Special Public Prosecutor Majid Memon said, "He will have to abstain from tampering with justice and witnesses and also not indulge in similar offences."
Raj has four cases registered against him including those at Kherwadi and Kanjurmarg in Mumbai and ones at Thane and Dombivali, SPP in the Kherwadi case Majid Memon said.
In the Kherwadi case, Thackeray has been charged with provoking riot, assaulting public servants, endangering public safety of others, causing mischief and damage to property.
Meanwhile, Defence Lawyer Akhilesh Chaubey said, "In the remand application they have said that on October 19 the speech given by Raj Thackeray asked the people to attack others whereas the truth is that the people who were attacked were his own supporters."
The case has now been transferred to Thane where he faces another non-bailable charge. So until Raj Thackeray's produced in court on that charge, he will not be walking free in a hurry. He will spend at least Tuesday night in jail.
CONDEMNATION FOR RAJ ACROSS PARTY LINES
Meanwhile, the man under immense pressure right now is Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh. He has now assured Mumbaikars that the police will arrest those responsible for violence.
"Raj should remain in police custody. Some stray incdidents of violence were reported and the police is arresting those responsible," he said on Tuesday.
From the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the Left, parties were unanimous in their condemnation.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said: "More stringent action is required against people who carry out such actions in the name of regionalism."
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati asked the Election Commission to ban the MNS, Communist Party of India leader D Raja said the state government should not take a "soft approach" as Thackeray had threatened the integrity and unity of the country.
The issue led to the Lok Sabha being adjourned and Home Minister Shivraj Patil saying in the Rajya Sabha that three advisories had been issued to the state government. "Anyone from any part of the country can live and work anywhere. No one can stop them."
This is the second time in eight months that Thackeray has been arrested for his tirade against north Indians, essentially job-seeking migrant workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Out to prove that he is better than his cousin Uddhav Thackeray and the Shiv Sena, where he cut his political teeth, Raj Thackeray is a man in a hurry to get known.
(With inputs from Nimisha Srivastav in Mumbai)
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