Lok Sabha adjourned for the day amid uproar

New Delhi, Oct 20 (UNI) The Lok Sabha was today adjourned for the day amid uproar over the issue of thrashing of north Indian railway job aspirants by MNS activists in Mumbai yesterday with the members of the RJD, SP, JD(U) and LJP demanding the arrest of MNS chief Raj Thackrey.

The pandemonium began when BJP member M A Kharabela Swain made a certain remark which was resented by the members who took a dim view of Mr Thackrey's ''encouragement of chauvinism, parochialism, regionalism for political ends''.

Those who demanded the arrest of Mr Thackrey came near the well and raised slogans, but the members of the BJP, BJD and Shiv Sena pointed out towards what they termed ''irregularities'' in the functioning of the Recruitment Board and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's favouring people belonging to a certain zone and a religion.

Earlier, Mr Gurudas Dasgupta(CPI) said the attackers had no justification even as they had some grudges against the Railway Board." They did it keeping the 2009 Lok Sabha polls in mind.

The theory of jobs for the sons of soil will divide the nation,'' he warned.

Rajiv Ranjan (JD-U) called the MNS chief ''mentally sick'' and wondered why action could not be taken against him when both the central and state governments were being governed by the Congress led coalitions. ''Why can't the government serve a notice under Article 355 to the state government?'' Sayeed Shahnawaz Hussain(BJP) said Home minister Shivraj Patil owed an explanation for the incident, demanding a statement from the government in this connection.

Mohammad Salim(CPI-M) said the trend could pose a serious threat to the country's ethos of brotherhood, unity and integrity and federal structure of governance.

Rajesh Verma of BSP, Tathagat Satpathi (BJD) and Anant Geete (Shiv Sena), while condemning the incident, called for looking into other aspects of the problem, mainly the growing unemployment and the Railway Minister's favouritism and faulty system of recruitment, among other things.

UNI KSA RL AS1750