Raj Thackeray flexes muscle on toll issue, dares Maharashtra government to arrest him

By Dilip -
NB: Apparently the Thackeray dynasty has the freedom to indulge in violence and hooliganism without fear of the law. Why does India's establishment complain about maoist violence when it has patronised hoodlums like these for decades? DS

 Raj Thackeray, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or MNS, has escalated his confrontation with the state government, announcing a statewide "rasta roko" agitation on February 12 to press for the abolition of toll tax. He has dared the government to arrest him.

MNS workers have in the last few weeks attacked and vandalised toll booths across the state, including major cities like Mumbai and Pune, on the orders of Mr Thackeray, who now faces multiple cases for instigating them. Hundreds of MNS workers were arrested last week. Undeterred, Mr Thackeray said on Sunday that he was determined to continue his stir until the government has made collection of road tax "transparent".

"My meeting with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to resolve the (toll) issue has proved futile. I am left with no option but to continue my agitation against the collection of toll and to side with the anger of the people against the unjustified road tax," Mr Thackeray said, addressing a rally at the SP College ground in Pune. He also criticised the state Home department for "laxity" in ensuring law and order in Maharashtra.

In a counter to the Shiv Sena criticising his toll-tax agitation, the MNS chief said, "I wonder whether that party is part of the ruling coalition or belongs to the opposition". The Shiv Sena is headed by Mr Thackeray's cousin Uddhav Thackeray, who, in partnership with the BJP, is the main opposition to the ruling Congress-NCP government in the state. Mr Thackeray is expected to be a strong third angle in Assembly elections due in Maharashtra later this year.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/raj-thackeray-flexes-muscle-on-toll-issue-dares-maharashtra-government-to-arrest-him-481363?pfrom=home-lateststories

 'Mainstream' extremism : 'Attack, vandalise' if you're asked to pay toll: Raj Thackeray's order triggers MNS goondaism
Also see: 
Hitler’s Strange Afterlife in India “If you take Mein Kampf and if you remove the word Jew and put in the word Muslim, that is what I believe in.” Bal Thackeray in 1992..  “There is nothing wrong, if [Indian] Muslims are treated as Jews were in Nazi Germany.” Interview to Time magazine, 1993
Shiv Sena - attack on hospital 2001
Sambhaji Brigade vandalised the Bhandarkar Institute in Pune in 2004
Vidyadhar Date: Bal Thackeray, The Capitalists And The Working Poor
Bal Thackeray's Poisonous Legacies
Javed Anand: Through all the tears for Bal Thackeray
Bal Thackeray: Leader who brought ethnic politics to Mumbai
The Culture Of Fear - film-making in the Thackeray years

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