Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has
lashed out at Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for his
comments on migrants from Uttar Pradesh, saying though the
migrant population has "destroyed" Mumbai, his party never
called them beggars.
"The huge influx of UP migrants in Mumbai and the rest
of Maharashtra has virtually paralysed the state and the
migrants have destroyed the city. But we have never called
them beggars. Hunger has no caste or region," Thackeray said
in Wednesday’s editorial of his party mouthpiece "Saamana".
Noting that migrant labourers from UP were there in
Delhi and other states as well, the Sena patriarch said, "But
Rahul mentioned only about Maharashtra and Punjab where the
people are self-respecting and have fighting spirit. These
states have never surrendered themselves to the Nehru Gandhi
family."
Accusing Mayawati government of being corrupt and
insensitive to the poor, Gandhi had told a public meeting at
Phulpur on Monday that "people of Uttar Pradesh are
appreciated for their hard work, wherever they go in search of
job....How long will you beg in Maharashtra (for work)? How
long will you work as labourer in Punjab?...."
While targeting the Congress leader for his remark,
Thackeray asked the migrant population to stay "within
limits".
"You have come to earn a living so learn to stay
within your limits," Thackeray said, adding North Indians and
people from other states were not enemies and Shiv Sena
respected people from every state. "But this does not mean
that we will allow the control of Marathi people in Mumbai to
loosen so that migrants can behave as they want," he said.
He said though every citizen had the right to live and
work freely anywhere in the country, the migrants were not
free to cause trouble to the locals.
Thackeray said he had been saying all these years that
migrants from UP and Bihar should stay back in their own
states and develop it.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 15:34