Taking the cue from MNS president Raj Thackeray, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has said that he will not tolerate attempts to isolate the 'Marathi Manoos.'"I will not care for any post to protect the Marathi pride," Rane, a close friend of Raj since their days together in Shiv Sena, wrote in a front page column "Haar ani Prahar" in Thursday's edition of his Marathi daily, "Prahar".Rane, while making it clear that he did not support the violent means of the MNS to demand priority to locals in railway jobs, said the youth who participated in the agitation were not goons or criminals."It was the question of one's livelihood and were forced to resort to an agitation. Though the violence is condemnable, reason behind the agitation is equally important," the fiery Sena-turned-Congress leader said.Rane reasoned that the violence happened because the feeling of deprivation was growing among the local youth. He said Marathi youths must get prominence during recruitment in Central government jobs from Maharashtra."There are lakhs of unemployed youth in the state and only a handful of local youth get calls for railway recruitment examination. What do you make of the fact, that out of 54,000, only 54 Marathi youths are called for the railway board examination. Marathi speaking people have negligible presence in Central government jobs like nationalised banks, income tax, sales tax, railways," he added.Commenting on the reaction of North Indian leaders to the MNS agitation, Rane noted that he was of the view that the north Indian leaders in Parliament tried to target Maharashtrians and isolate them.
