Mumbai: The ongoing feud between the MNS and Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam over the hawkers issue escalated on Friday when MNS workers vandalised the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) office at Azad Maidan. The MNS, which claimed responsibility for the attack, called it a ‘surgical strike’. Later, police arrested eight MNS workers in connection with the incident. Party leader Sandeep Deshpande, who was among those arrested, said, “[It is] tit for tat.”
Mr. Nirupam had come out in support of hawkers, against whom the MNS had launched an agitation after the stampede at Elphinstone Road railway station on September 29. He claimed the attack showed the MNS’s frustration. “I can understand their workers’ frustration; they are being beaten up by hawkers regularly. Their attack on our office is a cowardly act. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must act fast or a befitting reply will be given. The police station was just 25 metres from our office.”
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan said ideology should be fought with ideology. “Had the MNS activists been jailed when they tried to attack Sanjay Nirupam in the past, this incidence could have been avoided. The police chose to side with them and gave them a morale booster.”
Ganesh Yadav, president, Mumbai Youth Congress, said their office was attacked by MNS workers around 10 a.m., when it was opened for cleaning. “The watchman told us that close to half-a-dozen goons barged in and began breaking glass doors and cabins.” Office Secretary Shantaram Bhavsar, who was the first to reach the spot, filed a complaint with Azad Maidan police station.
Raj sent attackers: Cong.
Eyewitnesses told the police that six to seven people on bikes and armed with sticks and rods pushed the watchman aside and vandalised the office before fleeing the scene. Congress workers alleged the attack was instigated by MNS chief Raj Thackeray. “We have learned that the attackers were not party members, but goons hired for this job.” Mr. Yadav claimed.
Police have registered a case of unlawful assembly, rioting and causing damage to property under the IPC and relevant sections of the Bombay Police Act. DCP Deepak Deoraj, spokesperson, Mumbai Police, said, “Eight accused have been arrested in connection with the case. Any individual or group whose protest includes violence and endangers the safety of life or property will be dealt with strictly.” Police said the attackers were identified through CCTV footage from the Congress office compound.
A day after the Elphinstone Road stampede that claimed 22 lives, Mr. Thackeray had said such incidents would recur as long as migrants kept pouring into the city. Later, MNS workers began assaulting hawkers in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. With no protection from the police, hawkers retaliated by beating up MNS workers, first in Malad and then in Vikhroli.
