MNS

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena

Raj Thackeray

Roshan Shaikh

Bangladesh

A day after three residents of Balaji Nagar filed a case against(MNS) workers and party chieffor trespassing to check their nationalities, one of the complainants,, has said that the MNS city unit failed to recognise him despite the fact that he worked with them in 2009-10.Shaikh, a resident of Gulmohor Society, who speaks fluent Marathi, further said that during the initial days, Thackeray had appealed to many non-Marathi to join the party. He had followed the suit and aligned with MNS, following which he was issued an identity card to the effect.His comments come against the backdrop of MNS’s Saturday drive to catch hold ofnationals and even had claimed that they had nabbed three people. The party workers had also taken the help of cops and insisted that they have managed to track down three Bangladesh nationals. The action was as initiated pursuant to instructions from Thackeray. As a part of the drive, the leaders entered the Gulmohor Society in Balaji Nagar and asked the residents to produce residential proofs. Shaikh was one of the locals who were interrogated, along with Dilshad Mansuri and Bappi Sardar.Shaikh, who hails from Hooghly district of West Bengal, shifted Pune to work as a jewellery karigar — profession that his family has upheld for three decades. The incident, he said, embarrassed him. “This might have taken place out of misunderstanding, but it has hurt me and my family. My neighbours know me since we have been living peacefully for many years. The incident will hamper us professionally. And still, I have no grudges against MNS workers,” he said.Shaikh claimed that many local MNS workers were aware that he had worked for the party in its formative years. He even produced his identity card to the workers. “I became the victim from party workers,” he said.Advocate Tosif Shaikh, who is helping Shaikh and others, told Mirror, “The MNS party workers barged into their houses and asked for documents in a very wrong manner. We have already approached the Sahakarnagar police station. If no formal complaint is filed, we will approach the court against the MNS people and also against the cops.”MNS, however, is firm on its stand, with city president Ajay Shinde claiming that the entire operation was carried out with help from cops. He went on to say that Shaikh was never a suspect. “He was detained just to interrogate about other possible suspects who might have fled during this operation. During his interrogation, police raised doubt about his nationality. We never ruled out the fact that he worked with the party,” he said, adding, “We will decide our further course of action and continue the drives against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.”