Indian police arrested a firebrand politician yesterday for inciting violence against migrant workers in India’s financial capital, sparking a violent rampage through the city by his followers.
Police arrested Raj Thackeray, the founder of the hardline Maharashtra Reconstruction Party, as he met with party activists on the outskirts of the city, Mumbai police chief Hassan Gafoor said.
Thackeray has repeatedly advocated violence against migrant workers, whom he accuses of taking jobs that should be given to locals.
Gafoor said Thackeray would be charged later yesterday with rioting and inciting violence.
On Sunday dozens of his supporters attacked students from northern India who had traveled to Mumbai on the west coast of India to apply for jobs on the railways.
After Thackeray’s arrest, party activists smashed at least 35 taxis and set ablaze a government toll booth in Mumbai. The also torched four buses in the nearby city of Pune. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Some 200 activists were detained, police officer Bala Samant said. There was a heavy police presence across the city.
Thackeray has made his name as a xenophobic, rabble-rousing politician championing the Marathi language and the rights of locals in Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital. Some 37 percent of Mumbai’s 18 million people are migrants drawn to the city’s bright lights seeking jobs.
Yesterday’s arrest was Thackeray’s second in eight months for violence against migrants. Critics say Thackeray does not have popular backing, but hopes to drum up support ahead of state elections next year.
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