MNS to go back to violence politics? Want men who can beat up others, Raj Thackeray tells workers

Raj Thackeray exhorted his partymen to take to violence during a meeting held over Vikhroli shopkeeper assault incident.

MUMBAI: Following a scuffle between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers and hawkers in Vikhroli, a suburb of Mumbai, party chief Raj Thackeray called a meeting of senior party leaders at his residence to review the situation. 

As per a report, Thackeray questioned his leaders why his partymen were beaten at the hands of hawkers.

During the meeting, Thackeray asked his party workers to be more assertive and informed them that if any of his party workers gets beaten by an outsider, he would be shown the doors.

"I want workers who will beat up others," Thackeray told his men at the meeting.

The meeting took place at Thackeray's residence 'Krishnakunj' over Sunday's assault on the party's Vikhroli division head Vishwajit Dolam and two others. 

On Sunday, at around 8.30 pm, at least three MNS party workers arrived at Vikhroli and asked shopkeepers to change the nameplates of the establishments to Marathi. 

While doing so, a scuffle broke out between a hawker and the MNS workers following which the partymen were roughed up by a group of hawkers present at the spot.

On October 28, another MNS worker, Sushant Malvade, suffered a fractured skull after being thrashed by hawkers in Malad.

Following the assaults on his party workers, Thackeray called an impromptu meeting at his house, thus indirectly provoking his leaders to take revenge on the politics of Marathi signboards in the city. 

Soon, a large group of MNS workers reached the spot and attacked the hawkers. 

The Vikhroli police rushed at the spot and shifted the injured to a local hospital. 

Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam warned Raj to stop 'goondagardi' or else his men will frequently get beaten up.

"The Vikhroli incident is humiliating. I don't want a repeat. If we can't protect ourselves, how will we pick up people's cause?" Raj is said to have asked his men during a closed-door meeting. His son Amit is said to have visited the injured party men at a hospital.