Nasik mourns HAL staffer's death

Nasik (Maharashtra), Feb.14 : People from all walks of life today mourned the death of 55-year-old Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) staffer, Ambadas Haribhau Dharrao, in a stone-pelting incident on Wednesday.

Dharrao was returning home early from the HAL plant at Ojhar near Nasik when the incident occurred during an agitation over a migrants' row spearheaded by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) .

Thackeray's MNS is a breakaway faction of the state's Shiv Sena, which earlier used to whip up regional sentiments, espousing the cause of the Marathi speaking people of the state.

Rampaging activists of the MNS attacked fruits and vegetable vendors as well as taxi drivers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

After almost ten days of arson unleashed by activists of Thackeray's outfit when migrants started fleeing from Maharashtra to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Mumbai Police arrested Thackeray for fomentingnmity between communities, and the clashes that followed his arrest resulted in the death of Dharrao.

"Who is responsible for this loss of ours? We have nothing to do with what Raj (Thackeray) does. But I want the culprits to hear these cries and to tell me who is going to pay for the inordinate loss we have suffered," lamented Subhas Dharrao, the brother of the deceased.

Railway Minister Lalu Yadav condemned regional chauvinism that was dividing the people of the country.

"The forces stoking regional chauvinism, wherever they are in the country, should not be tolerated. This may be families of Raj Thackeray or Bala Sahab Thackeray, but no one should be allowed do indulge in acts of inciting people. In any state if people resort to violence they should be dealt with sternly," he declared emphatically in Ranchi.

ANI