February 14, 2008	Thursday	Safar 06, 1429

MUMBAI, Feb 13: Two rival political leaders in India’s financial hub were arrested on Wednesday for stoking violence as part of a battle over “outsiders” thronging to the city for jobs, police said.

Raj Thackeray, head of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party, earlier this month allegedly encouraged supporters to attack migrants from north India who are said to have taken jobs from people native to Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital.Also arrested was Abu Azmi, a leader from the Samajwadi party, which has its base in northern Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state.

Both men are expected to be taken to a city court for a preliminary hearing on charges of encouraging unrest, a police spokesman said.

Earlier this month, workers such as taxi drivers were attacked by Sena activists who hurled stones. And several people attending theatres screening films in the north Indian language of Bhojpuri were injured in attacks.

Thackeray and Azmi have traded barbs over the violence after the Sena party asked migrants to respect Maharashtra culture or leave.

Officials in Maharashtra, ruled by the Congress Party, which heads the federal coalition government, met on Wednesday to review security and called for additional forces from the central government.

Mumbai, a city of around 18 million that is also the country’s entertainment capital, has witnessed severe religious and political riots several times in the past two decades.

The violence dates from the early 1990s when the Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena led by Bal Thackeray, Raj’s uncle, began attacks on migrants.—AFP