6 MNS men arrested for assaulting parents
Satara, Maharashtra, Mar 5 : A day after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) members assaulted some north Indian parents who were trying to get their children admitted to a local school in Western Maharashtra, the Satara Police said they have arrested six workers of Raj Thackeray's party on Tuesday.
Seven people are still wanted in connection to the case.
This act by the MNS workers was one of the steps in favour of their anti-migrant agenda followed by Thackeray in favour of Maharashtrians.
The incident happened outside a hospital in Satara district of the state when the children of around 12 years were getting medical check-ups required to meet the school criteria.
The parents from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were attacked allegedly by a group of twenty MNS workers claiming that the north Indians forged the certificates and documents to get their children admitted in the school.
While one parent was slapped, others were also manhandled making them disappear later, said reports.
The MNS workers defended their stance in a claim that the migrating group of students will make the Maharashtrian students lose their rights in all spheres including sports, studies and in police services later.
"Children from the age group of 11 years from Maharashtra are small-built, and the ones from UP and Bihar are so big... the big children are going to compete with the smaller ones in sports. They will surely win and come first in exams as well. Maharashtrian children will have problems in joining the police service later," Ranjeet Bhosale, president, Satara unit of MNS, told NDTV.
"We have asked them to leave and the children of Maharashtra should get admission here," Bhosale said.