Similarly, which young or veteran politician in these states has set up an academy, as you have done in Pune, to train young social and political activists in dealing with the challenges of navnirman (a new model of development)? How many political parties in India are promoting educational, vocational, and entrepreneurship training opportunities for young people as your newly formed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has been doing in an embryonic way?

Even at the risk of being misunderstood by my friends in Delhi, I am saying these good things about you because I believe that you are right in some, though not all, of the concerns you have voiced. But I am sorry to say that you have fallen prey to the temptation of gaining quick political mileage by targeting ‘north Indians’ as a whole in a crude attempt, perhaps, to score over the party that you broke away from.

If Abu Azmi, or some other leaders claiming to represent the ‘north Indian voters’ in Mumbai have behaved haughtily, and shown disrespect for the city’s Marathi-speaking people, protest by all means. But why are you yourself showing disrespect to the entire community of north Indians, as is evident from your article and your other reported statements? How can you allow your supporters to take law into their hands and do raada (street mayhem)? Can you justify the politics of violence against a fellow-Indian, as was evident when an innocent employee of HAL was killed in a stone-throwing incident in Nashik following your arrest in Mumbai?

... contd.