North Indians Line up to Join MNS

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s membership drive gets support from an unexpected quarter: Mumbai’s north Indian migrants.

When the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) launched its membership drive recently, they got an enthusiastic response from a very unexpected quarter: Mumbai’s north Indian migrant community. MNS activists, desperate to bump up the party’s cadre numbers, sent a clear message to immigrants: sign up as a member of the MNS and be spared. And it seems to have worked, because migrants are signing up to avoid getting thrashed again by MNS goons. 

The MNS is also desperate. Party president Raj Thackeray recently issued a diktat that MNS should have more new members than the Shiv Sena, run by estranged cousin Uddhav Thackeray. 

According to sources, word was passed around that any north Indian migrant worker with an MNS membership card would not be hurt. “I am a handcart puller, I live in Andheri. Some MNS workers came and told us that we will not be asked to leave the city if we signed the membership forms… I carry the (membership) card with me at all times,” says Rahat Chand.

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