Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka over the border row, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Friday said Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is heaping 'grave atrocities' on Marathi people in the neighbouring state.
"Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was accorded a red-carpet treatment when he visited Mumbai. The same chief minister is heaping grave atrocities on Marathi people in Karnataka," Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena's mouthpiece Saamana.
"Marathis are being assaulted with sticks and guns and beaten up like cattle. If the Karnataka government wants to display its masochism by attacking Marathi people, it should remember that Maharashtra is the land of Shivaji Maharaj," fumed Thackeray.
"We are happy that Yeddyurappa was behind the 'lotus blooming' in the South. But why is he bent on the massacre of Marathi people?" he asked.
"We are ready to accept blows even from friends if the atrocities continue," Thackeray quipped.
Recalling Yeddyurappa's remarks -- that Mumbai reminded him of Mysore due to the presence of lakhs of Kannadigas -- Thackeray said, "Why don't you apply the same logic in your state and stop tormenting Marathi people?"
"A senior minister accompanies terrorist like Masood Azhar to Kandahar. Attempts are made to stall Afzal Guru's execution in the Parliament attack case. In this country, terrorists get justice but Marathi people who have been struggling for the last 60 years in a democratic manner get sticks and bullets," he claimed.
