'Candidates could take exams in their own states'

MUMBAI: Ram Naik, BJP leader and former minister of state for railways, said on Monday that the MNS was dividing people.
His party, the BJP, stood for giving preference to local candidates for local jobs but a national perspective had to be adopted for all-India examinations like those conducted by the railways he said. The railway has jobs all over the country.The railway ministry has to recruit for different positions all over India and such jobs have an all-India character. The MNS should not have resorted to violence to stop candidates from other states. They are dividing people, he said.
But he also said the violence could have been avoided if the railway ministry had the foresight to hold the Railway Recruitment Board examination in the states from where the candidates came.
Naik said he blamed both the MNS and the railway ministry for the violent incidents. This has happened before. Why didnt the railway ministry anticipate there would be trouble? And more to the point, why couldnt the ministry hold exams in candidates home states? Let candidates from Bihar, for example, appear for the exam in Bihar and candidates from UP in UP, he said.
But the former minister, despite taking on the MNS for its divisive politics, said it would help to recruit people from the local population for certain types of jobs. Gangmen in railways, for example, are usually recruited from the local population because they need to interact with the local community, he explained.