Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that he would write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking his intervention to check attacks on Hindi-speaking people, particularly Biharis in Maharashtra.
"I have already sent a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and spoken to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Union Steel Minister Ramvilas Paswan, to use their influence in the Union government to stop attacks on Biharis. Now I am going to write to the Prime Minister," he said, when some opposition members in the state legislative council raised the issue.
Voicing serious concern over such incidents, Kumar asked the people of Bihar to exercise restraint and not make provocative statements that could endanger the lives and properties of Biharis living in Maharashtra.
The Constitution guarantees an Indian citizen to live and earn a living in any part of the country, the chief minister said, adding such incidents threatened the unity and integrity of the country.
"The Union government should exercise powers vested in it under article 355 of the Constitution relating to protection of a state against external aggression and internal disturbance," he said.
Referring to the arrest and release of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray, whose anti-north Indian tirade led to a string of violent incidents against Biharis, Nitish said, "Stern legal action should have been taken against such elements".