Mumbai: Scuffle ensues between MNS and Congress workers, RAF deployed

MUMBAI: Violent scuffle ensued between workers of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or MNS party and Congress on Wednesday during a hawker's protest in Dadar. The Rapid Action Force was called in to control the situation. Several workers from both the parties were detained by the police.

Congress party workers had come out in support of the hawkers.

Following Mumbai's Elphinstone station stampede tragedy that claimed 23 lives and injured several others, MNS chief Raj Thackeray addressed a public rally. He threatened the railway administration to make sure hawkers don’t come at Mumbai stations.

Taking matters into their own hands, MNS activists have been assaulting roadside vendors and hawkers over the past few weeks, in a bid to evict them forcibly.

Reacting to this, on Saturday several hawkers attacked MNS workers outside suburban Malad railway station as the later tried to evict them forcibly.

Meanwhile, a political tussle between the MNS and the Congress intensified. The Raj Thackeray-led party held a protest outside the suburban residence of Mumbai unit Congress president Sanjay Nirupam, who has sided with hawkers.