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Mumbai police filed a case against political firebrand Raj Thackeray on Feb. 11 for inciting street violence and promoting communal enmity among regions. Rumors are circulating in Mumbai that Thackeray could be arrested as early as tomorrow, which is likely to set off a major wave of disruptions in India’s financial hub.
Thackeray is the young leader and founder of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a radical political party devoted to “protecting” Marathi culture in Maharashtra from any non-Marathi Indian migrants. His campaign is geared toward the so-called “sons of the soil” in Maharashtra — young unemployed men who regard north Indian migrants, typically from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, as intruders who contaminate Marathi culture and take away jobs from the locals. The MNS was founded by Thackeray in 2006 after he broke away from his uncle’s Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party over differences with his cousin. Thackeray, who like his uncle is known to idolize Adolf Hitler, has lofty ambitions to become the chief minister of Maharashtra, and is launching a vitriolic campaign against north Indians in his attempt to get there.
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