MUMBAI, Nov 21: The Indian government postponed on Friday tests to recruit people to the state-run railway after Hindu radicals in Mumbai threatened violence to prevent people from outside the state trying for government jobs in the city.

The threat rang alarm bells in New Delhi because this week at least 34 settlers were killed in Assam in a conflict that was also triggered by competition for railway jobs.

“The tests have been postponed in Maharashtra,” a railway ministry spokesman said. “The government will wait for tempers to cool down and resolve this.”

Activists from the Mumbai-based Shiv Sena ransacked a railway office on Monday to protest against outsiders being included among the 650,000 candidates due to attend the test, earlier scheduled for Sunday, for 2,200 prized railway jobs.

“We will not allow the tests to be held,” Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said earlier on Friday. “If the Marathi man sheds blood, the state will have to pay a heavy price.”

Marathi is the local language of Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena has long fought to keep Maharashtra for Marathi speakers. But its thrust in recent years has been more pro-Hindu.

Security in Mumbai has been stepped up and police said they would protect candidates after clashes over railway jobs triggered days of killing and arson in Assam, leading troops to be called onto the streets.

More than 150,000 were due to sit for the test on Sunday, the second of four rounds, and thousands had already begun pouring into Bombay from northern India. Many were camping at railway stations and on pavements.—Reuters