Summary:
Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday hit out at the BJP for opposing Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray"s directive to state police to keep a record of migrants coming here from other states, claiming the BJP was raking up the "outsider" card with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and Mumbai civic elections due next year.
Raut in his weekly column "Rokhthok" in the Sena mouthpiece "Saamana" said Thackeray (during a law and order review meeting with top police officials on September 13) did not name any particular state while referring to migrants, "but the BJP declared that the CM meant North Indians".
"This is nothing but an attempt to create divisiveness, and cases should be filed against such people," said the Rajya Sabha member, who is the executive editor of "Saamana".
Mumbai is home to Bengali, Odiya, Assamese, Tamil, Telugu-speaking people, and the city"s Matunga and Dharavi areas are dominated by South Indians.
They never call themselves outsiders, he said.
Raut said Bengalis hold Durga Puja celebrations at the Shivaji Park around the same time as the Shiv Sena"s Dussehra rally, and Bengalis never fear and call themselves outsiders.