Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh said on Saturday that if Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray were not stopped, he would become another Hitler.
Urging major parties to react against Mr. Raj Thackeray’s outbursts, Mr. Singh said if “the Hitler of linguistic parochialism is not stopped, he will swallow the forces that created him.” Without naming the Congress, he said the forces that created Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale created Mr. Raj Thackeray too.
Mr. Amar Singh said his party would felicitate Abu Asim Azmi, SP MLA in Maharashtra, who was attacked by MNS legislators in the Assembly on November 17 for taking the oath in Hindi, and not in Marathi.
Mr. Amar Singh said he was not responsible for bringing the former BJP leader Kalyan Singh, close to the Samajwadi Party. In Lucknow, party chief Mulayam Singh said Mr. Kalyan Singh was never in the party nor would be taken into its fold.