MUMBAI, APRIL 9: Weeks after targeting North Indian migrants, Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has raked up the son-of-the soil issue, demanding 80 per cent job reservation for Marathi-speaking locals in the private sector and warning “we know how to explain” if this is not done.

Since Sunday, the MNS has been delivering letters by hand to private companies in and around Mumbai.

The party said around 100 companies, mostly call centres and security firms, have already been approached in the suburbs of Mumbai (Vile Parle, Malad and Juhu), Pune, Nashik, Igatpuri and Vidarbha. In the coming days, the MNS plans to approach 44,000 companies.

Manoj Chavan, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Kaamgar Sena, said members are personally “hand-delivering the letters” and meeting company officials. “It is just a cordial reminder to the industries and the trade sector. If they don’t respond, we know how to explain to them in our own way,” he said.

In the letter, the MNS says a job candidate must have a 15-year Maharashtra domicile certificate which it claims is also the policy of the state government. “This rule is being violated openly and the MNS has complaints regarding the matter”.

Gurcharan Singh Chauhan, president of Security Association of India, said: “I am an ex-Armyman. To me, these regional divides do not make sense. In a security agency, we look at the qualifications of applicants and employ them on the basis of merit.”

Kiran Karnik, former NASSCOM president, said: “For any business house, it makes more sense to recruit locally. But companies go for employees from other areas when locals are not able to match others on the basis of merit. For an export-oriented sector like BPO, quality is most important.”