Zeeews Bureau
Mumbai: Taking on Digvijay Singh in the wake of his remarks on Thackeray family, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Monday called the Congress general secretary a dancer who dances for free.
Expressing his views in his party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamna’, Bal Thackeray said that some politicians are raking up the Bihar issue without any reason.
Bal Thackeray’s sarcastic comments came after Digvijay Singh on Saturday criticised Raj Thackeray`s threat to brand Biharis as `infiltrators` and force them out of Maharashtra, saying fishermen are the true inhabitants of Mumbai and that the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief`s family is also from Bihar.
"The fishermen are the true inhabitants of Mumbai and rest of people have come from outside. Raj Thackeray`s family also is from Bihar. They came from Bihar, got settled in Dhar, and then they reached Mumbai," Singh had said.
The MNS chief had threatened to force Biharis out of Maharashtra if officials in Bihar take legal action against Mumbai policemen, who picked up a teenager from the eastern state without informing the authorities there.
Raj, who calls himself the custodian of Maharashtrians, has said that Bihar chief secretary Navin Kumar’s letter to the Mumbai police commissioner voicing displeasure over the arrest of Abdul Qadir Mohammed Younus Ansari from Sitamarhi for vandalising the Amar Jawan Memorial near Azad Maidan on August 11 was uncalled for.
"If the Bihar government tries to become a hurdle in the way of a police investigation, then my party would dub every Bihari in Maharashtra as an infiltrator and would force them to leave the state. The person who desecrated the Amar Jawan memorial was arrested from Bihar. I would like to tell the Bihar chief secretary that because of your state, the crime rate (in Maharashtra) has gone up," Raj had said.
Through his editorial Bal Thackeray also asked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to stay away from such issues.
He also said that arrest Qadir’s arrest shouldn’t be judged on the lines of religion and caste.
Meanwhile, all political parties have condemned the MNS chief’s statement.
