SP activists protest against attack on Abu Azmi

Mumbai: Samajwadi Party activists protested the attacks on their state chief Abu Asim Azmi by pelting stones at state transport buses in Thane district, police said.

A mob of Samajwadi Party workers pelted stones at three state transport buses in Bhiwandi town of Thane district, the constituency of Azmi.

No casualties were reported in the incident. The police have arrested over 10 activists including the city party chief and two municipal corporators.

In Jogeshwari suburb of north-west Mumbai, Samajwadi Party workers burnt an effigy of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and shouted slogans against him and his party.

In Thane, MNS workers created a ruckus near the station, shouting slogans against Azmi and Samajwadi Party and tearing pamphlets denouncing him.

In a related development, the Shiv Sena indirectly castigated the MNS for the attacks on Azmi.

Sena spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said it is the duty of everybody to respect the national language, Hindi.

"If anybody had any issue, they should have raised it before the protem speaker for permitting any member to take oath in any language other than Marathi," Raut said.

Meanwhile, at a press conference MNS spokesman reiterated that Hindi was not the national language of India.

"If anybody can prove that Hindi is the country's national language, I shall quit politics," he said.