(Top)A flower seller walks past a couple on Valentine’s Day in Mumbai. A Rapid Action Force jawan stands vigil on a city street. (Reuters/ AFP)

Mumbai/Nashik, Feb. 14: Raj Thackeray’s anti-outsider campaign has frightened up to 8,000 north Indian workers into leaving Nashik’s industrial belt over the past one week, district authorities said today.

This is nearly 10 per cent of the area’s estimated 85,000-90,000 skilled and semi-skilled workers and - a day after sectarian violence killed an industrial employee in Nashik - local sources feared more would leave.

“We expect the workers to continue leaving for another eight to 10 days,” said Mangesh Patankar, a member of the Nashik Industries and Manufacturers Association (Nima).

“I wouldn’t say the extent of violence in this area was huge, but the TV reports frightened many workers.”

“It’s a serious problem. Forty per cent of the workforce here is north Indian. They work 12 hours and have little to distract them, and so are preferred by the employers,” said Navin Shah, owner of Super Metal Industries in Nashik’s Satpur industrial area.

Nashik police commissioner S.M. Sayyed said the total north Indian migrant population in Nashik’s industrial areas was around 35,000.

Railway reservation figures suggest that in the past seven days, 5,000-6,000 of them had booked seats on trains that left for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, collector S. Chokhalingam said.

Another 1,500-2,000 possibly travelled without reservation or by bus.

Chokhalingam and Sayyed led a peace march this morning in migrant-dominated neighbourhoods. Local politicians and industry association officials accompanied them.

The industrial belt has over 1,400 large, medium and small industries. “The companies include Mahindra and Mahindra, Schneider Electric, Jindal Steel, Crompton Greaves, ABB and Kirloskar,” said Nima general secretary Prashant Sathe.

Silent protest

A day after Marathi speaker Ambadas Dharrao was killed in the violence, mounted to “protect” interests of Maharashtrians, his home village staged a silent march against Raj’s sectarian campaign.

Nashik police have registered a murder case against four Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers and arrested Sandeep Bhavar, a student leader. “We hope to arrest the others by tonight,” deputy commissioner S. Trambake said.

Dharrao, a Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd employee, received head injuries when alleged MNS activists stoned a company bus in Nashik after Raj’s arrest yesterday. The 53-year-old, who was returning home to Nashik city from HAL’s Ojhar plant, bled to death before he could be taken to hospital.

This morning, the body was brought to Niphad village, whose mainly Marathi-speaking residents shut down shops in protest. Villagers, whatever their party loyalties, joined the silent march.

Hundreds of HAL employees, too, attended the funeral of a man they knew well because of his association with the workers’ union.

Dharrao, who worked in the sheet-metal division of the plant, which makes Sukhoi fighter planes, was his family’s lone earning member. He is survived by his mother, wife and two married daughters.

Raj says sorry

Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna highlighted Dharrao’s death and criticised the MNS agitation. The victim’s Maharashtrian identity forced Raj to issue an apology in the evening, but he claimed Dharrao was killed not by MNS supporters but by criminals and political rivals.

“Every Marathi family is like my own family.. In a sensitive situation like this, anti-social elements and political rivals take advantage,” Raj said. “However, my arrest became the reason for Dharrao’s death, and I apologise to his family with folded hands.”

Raj did not express regret for the violence reported from many parts of the state.

A second man - a north Indian - died of injuries suffered in a clash in Nashik’s Wadiware industrial area last evening. But it wasn’t clear if the fight had taken place between migrant workers and Raj’s supporters, or between rival unions.

Vinod Singh, a 45-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, was one of the nine Jindal Polyfilms Ltd workers injured.