Rival leaders held in Mumbai for stoking violence

Two rival political leaders in India's financial hub were arrested on Wednesday for stoking violence as part of a battle over "outsiders" thronging the city for jobs, police said.
Raj Thackeray, head of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party, earlier this month allegedly encouraged supporters to attack migrants from north India who are said to have taken jobs from people native to Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital.
Also arrested was Abu Azmi, a leader from the Samajwadi party, which has its base in northern Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state. Both leaders were granted bail by a local court late Wednesday. The arrests raised fears that riots could break out as reports came in that crowds were stoning buses in some towns in the state.
One man died in Nashik city, a Thackeray stronghold, some 180 kilometres (110 miles) north-east of Mumbai, after the bus he was travelling in was pelted with stones, a police official confirmed. India's financial capital remained calm but many commuters rushed home early.
Earlier this month, workers such as taxi drivers were attacked by Sena activists who hurled stones. Several movie-goers watching films in the north Indian language of Bhojpuri were also injured in attacks. Thackeray and Azmi have traded barbs over the violence after the Sena party asked migrants to respect Maharashtra culture or leave.
Officials in Maharashtra, ruled by the Congress Party, which heads the federal coalition government, met Wednesday to review security and called for additional forces from the central government. Mumbai, a city of around 18 million that is also the country's entertainment capital, has witnessed severe religious and political riots several times in the past two decades. The violence dates from the early 1990s when the Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena led by Bal Thackeray, Raj's uncle, began attacks on migrants.
The party later eased its tactics targeting immigrants, but Raj Thackeray broke from Shiv Sena in 2005 and has raised the issue again. State assembly elections are due in late 2009 in which northern Indian political parties are expected to run a large number of candidates.