The man at the centre of the hate campaign is out and about in Mumbai. The gag order against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief
Raj Thackeray was briefly lifted to allow a press conference.
Thackeray was unmoved by the recent incidents of violence in the city. "A few years ago, a few Marathi men were killed in a train what has the Maharashtra government done about that?" he asked.
Raj Thackeray may be visible, but the government is not.
Even as the Centre has been pressuring the government to take care of law and order, the Prime Minister intervening directly with calls and even a letter to the Chief Minister, the two men at the helm of affairs Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil have been missing from Mumbai for days.
The Chief Minister was away in his hometown Latur most of the week right through the furore over the shooting of Rahul Raj and the killing of a migrant. He only surfaced briefly in Nanded to receive the Prime Minister.
His deputy R R Patil spent the week at his home in Sangli, making a controversial statement on Rahul Raj that ended up provoking north India's politicians. "If anyone takes takes the law into their hands, we will reply to every bullet with a bullet," he said.
These are glaring absences that could spell trouble for Vilasrao Deshmukh. Not just from the high command but for the Congress party's fortunes with north Indian voters in the next elections.
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