India leader charged with rioting

By Prachi Pinglay
BBC News, Mumbai

Mr Thackeray's MNS party is accused of attacks on migrant workers

Police in the western Indian city of Mumbai have charged the leader of a right-wing regional party with rioting during violence in the city last year.

Raj Thackeray, leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), had allegedly led violent protests against migrants from other Indian states.

Mr Thackeray's supporters attacked Indian railway recruitment examination centres in Mumbai.

They were alleged to have beaten up job candidates from northern India.

Mr Thackeray was arrested on charges of disrupting government work and rioting and released on bail the same day last October.

His party won 13 seats in the recent state assembly elections in Maharashtra.

Mr Thackeray's lawyer Sayaji Nangre says his client and 20 others have been charged with rioting, stoking religious tensions and "unlawful assembly".

Earlier this month, his supporters attacked a legislator in the Maharashtra assembly for taking oath in Hindi.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has been campaigning for greater rights for the ethnic Marathi people of Maharashtra.

The party has been accused of several attacks on migrant workers.

Mr Thackeray is a nephew of Bal Thackeray, the founder of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party.

The Shiv Sena has long argued for greater rights to be given to Marathis - people who can trace their origins to the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital.

Raj Thackeray left the Shiv Sena in December 2005 and formed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in March 2006.