Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today charged the Centre and Maharashtra government with failing to rein in MNS chief Raj Thackeray for his threat to throw Biharis out of Maharashtra.
"The MNS chief's diatribes against Biharis pose a challenge to all governments to deal with a person who has been holding out threat to the migrant people. People have the constitutional right to live and work in any part of the country," he told reporters.
"It is the duty of the Central government and the government of a state (Maharashtra) to take note of the conduct of a person like Thackeray and deal sternly with such elements," Kumar said.
Demanding strong action against the MNS chief, a visibly angry Kumar asked as to how the Centre and the Maharashtra government would deal with terrorism if they could not rein in a person like Thackeray.
He slammed Maharashtra government for not taking any action against Thackeray for his hate speech against Biharis and apparently allowing him to speak on its behalf to question Bihar government for protesting the arrest of one Abdul Qadir — an accused in desecration of the martyrs memorial in Mumbai last month — from his native Sitamarhi district by Mumbai Police without informing their local counterpart.
"Has the Mumbai police and the Maharashtra government outsourced governance to Thackeray?" he asked.