Mumbai violence

Hindu hardliners riot in Mumbai

BBC NEWS

Police in India's Maharashtra state are on high alert following sporadic incidents of violence in the capital, Mumbai (Bombay), the authorities say.
Tensions are running high after a statue of the late wife of right-wing Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray was found to have been vandalised.

Shiv Sena followers went on the rampage in some parts of the city.

Some political opponents say the party is using the incident to try to revive flagging political fortunes.

'Against Hindus'

It is not clear who defaced the statue of Meenatai, Mr Thackeray's late wife, but anger quickly spilled onto the streets.

Shiv Sena supporters torched at least one bus and forced shops to shut in some areas.

A senior Shiv Sena leader and former speaker of the Indian parliament, Manohar Joshi, described the act of vandalism as against Hindus and Hinduism. He said it was natural for Shiv Sena followers to feel provoked.

Some Shiv Sena leaders alleged that followers of the regional Samajwadi Party were behind the act of vandalism.

The Samajwadi Party has not yet reacted to the allegation.

The Maharashtra government has asked police to be vigilant across the state.

Protestors pelted stones at a suburban trains in north-east Mumbai and burnt buses including a tourist bus in the city as reports of violence came in from various parts of Maharashtra following the desecration here of a bust of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray's late wife on Sunday morning.

Government Railway Police said sporadic stone pelting was reported at suburban trains at Vikhroli railway station on Sunday afternoon.

Violence was reported from several parts of Nasik city, Chandrapur, Aurangabad and Nagpur in Maharashtra.

Shiv Sainiks blocked the old Mumbai-Pune highway, disrupting vehicular traffic for some time, but alert police detained the agitators and restored traffic, sources said, adding that similar agitation was also held on Aurangabad- Jalna road in Marathwaada.

Spontaneous bandhs have been observed in Dadar, some parts of central Mumbai, suburban Jogeshwari and Goregaon, neighbouring Thane city, Mira Road in Thane district, where shops and establishments have downed shutters, sources said.

Similar bandh was also being observed in Nasik, Navi Mumbai, Parbhani, Chandrapur and some parts of Aurangabad city sources added.

Whenever I see things like this I wonder if they check that the buses and trains are full of non-Hindus first...

The Sainiks Are Behaving Like Rabid Fanatics....their Acts R Quite Like Terrorists Methinks...holding The State To Ransom.

All over since Sunday evening.. things back to normal... thank GOD..

Comments / Thoughts best left un-said !!

Shiv Sena and its moronic leaders are not fit to live in a civilized society.

This is the dangerous side of India.

One day everybody lives together in peace and harmony; the next some fanatic idiot (whatever religion, etc) is raging and people are turning on each other.

Frightening

Apart from being wife of Bal Thackerey what r the achievements of Meena Tai and frankly speking does she deserve a statue?Please enlighten me ...

what a bunch of wankers.
i passed Shivaji Park on my way to Bandra around 11.10-11.15. i got to Bandra Shoppers Stop by 11.30 when i got a call from my brother saying what had happened in Dadar.
They asked me to cancel my table at China White and head to Taj Lands End where i stayed until 4.30 (had a good lunch at Yin Yang)
i got so bored with sitting round i decided to see whats up and drove back home. no sweat. was home to kemps corner in 30mins exact.
The news channels instead of saying EXACTLY what the situation is where the blockages are, or violence is just keep repeating old footage.
I was on the radio when driving and they were giving real time reports from listeners at home and driving to tell u what is going on where.
I have absolutely no trust in any news channels anymore and am going to stick to the radio especially in emergencies.

As for the idiots in the Shiv Sena. Christ! i mean seriously do they even know what year this is? the old days of the Sena are gone. the people dont want a Bandh and stupid violent tactics ruin weekends. This wont get them re-elected.

They can Forget it. Im NEVER voting for them idiots again.

Edit : Ive never actually voted because i was never in the country during elections..

I strong feel along with the footage on News Channels they should give the time of the footage... the same problem happend during the floods early last week, one really does not know wht is happening currently...

I was going to work in the afternoon shift and there was this news about the ongoing rioting in the area where I live which is very close to where the incident took place at Shivaji Park and I still did not have any problems getting to work by train even though they had temporarily shut one of the roads leading to the incident site. I wish they would learn from past experiences that the public is not interested in bandhs and strikes that paralyse the city and hold it to ransom.

Some people are lucky to be able to eat and enjoy in the five star hotels in such a situation but what about those who live on a day to day basis working to feed themselves everyday. The restaurants were all shut and the taxi driver who took me to the station was cursing them (the party that ordered the bandh) as they had shut down all the gas stations for the CNG/petrol so he could not even fill up his gas tank to carry on driving his taxi and would have to go home, meaning no more money for the day. Now who is going to pay this guy his wages or compensate for his daily earnings, when it comes to passing the buck no one will take the blame. Like the party said it was all a spontaneous reaction and no one asked the shops to close down but then they all know the truth but will not say so to keep away the threat of terror from these political parties.

Cheers,
Aadil.

ha!..the first thing that i laughed was with the beebs saying 'hindu hardliners'....why dont they refer to the republican party as the christian hardliners eh?...the shiv sena is no more hindu hard right than the republicans in the US are christian right.

the shiv sena has lost its way, weakened by a split and has no legs to stand on...the base is withering away and the younger generation is interested in more relevant issues....this has nothing to do with hindus or hinduism and for manohar joshi to say, its all crock and bull..and for the beebs to give this headline is whole lotta crap...they could have labelled it thugs riot in bombay..

if you go back in the 60,70's it was lungi hatao..which was basically chase the south indians [predominantlty tamils] out of bombay..and then it was marathi supremacy..put marathi everywhere, reservations for marathi manus[folks], all shops should display it, the sons of the local soil [forget india..maharashtra first] issue that they burned to death literally...and lately before it split was anti-bhaiyya [folks from Bihar/UP] moves..chase the bihars/up out of bombay....the old guy has gotten senile, lost in nepotism with an incompetent son, the goons days are numbered!...thats all there to is...goons.......why they could read this and start a riot~~~~~

easy easy nick. you have to be local in bombay to understand these things. hindu's or non-hindus has got nothing to do with it. the samajwadi party is not a minority religious party... inspite of them appeasing those..but this could be mischeif of a teen..yeah..maybe a street kid!...

...also remember that the shiv sena split with the nephew forming his own party..and there have been petty squabbles with the two factions...we have many parties in bombay....Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, MNS, BJP, Samajwadi and Communists....i lost count..parties are formed everyday, squabbles happen everyday!..idiots and unemployed thugs are just scouting for an issue to settle old scores!..thats all there is to it..

I only see it as a way to clean up the statue and garland it by none other than both the estranged cousins together!!! And share some publicity when there was none coming their way in a long time for now. Now what more can one say about these two and how they split the party and now come on one common platform to garland the bust of their leader's late wife.

Cheers,
Aadil.

all i can say is that we get the government we deserve.