Zeenews Bureau
Mumbai: Outdoing his cousin Raj, Shiv Sena working president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that a permit system be implemented for Biharis who want to live and work in Mumbai.
Raj Thackeray had last week threatened to brand Biharis as "infiltrators" and force them out of Maharashtra if authorities in Bihar take legal action against Mumbai policemen who picked up one Abdul Qadir – in connection with Azad Maidan violence - from Sitamarhi district without informing their counterparts in that state, evoking a sharp rebuff from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Kumar said the action was unjustified as there was a procedure laid down by the union home ministry that the police of a state must inform local police and seek its cooperation for arrest of an accused from other state
However, Uddhav has backed Raj, he said that if the Mumbai police need Bihar government's permission to act then we should implement the permit system for people coming from the state to Mumbai and Maharashtra.
The estranged cousins have come closer over the last few months, especially after Raj was seen by Uddhav’s side when the latter was admitted to hospital for a heart surgery.
In an interview to Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, Uddhav said that instead of questioning Mumbai Police, Nitish Kumar should have congratulated them for their action as the arrest had prevented Qadir from fomenting more trouble in that state.
He also termed Bihar chief secretary’s letter to the state government as 'meddling in law and order issues'. Defending city police, he said, "There was no need for the Bihar chief secretary to meddle in the affairs of Mumbai police and he should focus more on his state's administration."
Terming Qaidur as a traitor, Uddhav said, “Even God cannot save this country if political boundaries are going to come in the way of arresting a terrorist from Bihar.
In an interview to the DNA newspaper, Uddhav said that on August 11 Bangladeshis and pro-Pakistan Muslims ran amok over Assam violence.
“The Mumbai Police did a good job by nabbing the accused in Bihar. The Bihar government must have kept quiet or taken a strict stand against violence. However, they got a bout of love for Bihar and warned our policemen,” he said.
On the stand taken by Nitish Kumar and Congress leader Digvijay Singh, he said, “These useless people have ruined the country for vote-bank politics. The focus was unnecessarily diverted from Bangladeshis as the perpetrators to (a fight) between Maharashtrians and Biharis. The Bangladeshi infiltrators must be laughing at how two sections of our countrymen are at each others’ throats.”
First Published: Tuesday, September 04, 2012, 10:51