Mumbai: Beating up taxi drivers, threatening shop owners and making inflammatory statements - the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray has done it all.
It finally took the Bombay High Court to say enough is enough. During the hearing of a case filed by the Retailers Welfare Association, Justice J N Patel slammed the state government for not acting on the law and order problems caused by the MNS.
He said: "Some people try to enforce the law as if there is no government and they challenge you to touch them and the mighty state is helpless. If you don't have the political will to do something about it, it just gives the message to the public that you cannot solve law and order problems."
Comparing the MNS actions with terrorism Justice J N Patel further said: "Last time you caught him (Raj Thackeray), he came out like a hero. We used to worship Bhagat Singh and all but now the concepts seem to have changed. We seem to be worshipping terrorists."
Retailers Welfare Association Secretary, Viren Shah said, "The judge has raised the important point about the security of the common man."
The state government has not reacted to these observations by Justice Patel, but the MNS has gone on the defensive.
MNS Spokesperson, Shishir Shinde said, "Over 1,200 of our party workers have been arrested. We only requested the shopowners to have signboards in Marathi. The government was doing nothing about it."
But the MNS was not there to present this view in court on Thursday.
The petitioners' lawyer, Majid Memon said, "They go around making such a noise, so why weren't they present in court on Thursday?"
The High Court has given the state government time till October 16 to take some strict action against the MNS and Raj Thackeray. It remains to be seen whether the state government will bow down to the compulsions of realpolitik or the rule of law.
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