Raj’s men beat us on train: Biharis

A large number of Biharis, who returned from Mumbai recently for Chhat puja, complained that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists assaulted them at the Kalyan railway station. And even the Government Railway Police drove them away when they tried to lodge complaints.

Some passengers of the Lokmanya Tilak-Rajendranagar Express were admitted at a hospital at Bikramganj, while others went to private nursing homes in Darbhanga and elsewhere.

Rubbishing such claims, MNS spokesperson Shirish Parker said, “I don’t think any such things has happened. TV channels would have picked it up had that been the case.”

Arjun Rai, one of the victims, said, “When our train reached Kalyan station, several slogan-shouting MNS activists entered our compartment, carrying hockey sticks, iron rods and other arms. They started asking the identity of the passengers. When they found that we were Biharis retuning home, they started beating us.”

Rai also complained that they searched “our belongings and took away money, clothes and other valuables, claiming these were the things of Marathi people, which we had stolen from them. They also misbehaved with some women passengers”.

A railway employee from Bihar, who is posted in Mumbai, said: “When we travel in local trains, we don’t talk in Hindi. We use the sign language to communicate.”

Shiv Chandra Jha, a taxi driver of Borivali, was beaten up and his taxi damaged just because his taxi had “Om Namah Shivay” written in Hindi. He arrived at Patna junction with bruises in his right arm and face.