MNS malevolence needs to be mauled

When a political leader confined only to Mumbai can terrorise Indian migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the name of Marathi manoos or people and get away with it time and again, the Indian state’s writ---if it really runs in such cases---comes in question.

Has ratcheted up regionalism so touchy for the government that stringent measures cannot be taken against Raj Thackeray? Is the Congress at the centre and in Maharashtra where it is also in power so hamstrung that it cannot put this parochial terroriser behind bars and put an end to the demonising of Hindi speaking people who come to Mumbai for work and make the city their home?

Raj’s goons or lumpens from the MNS careened towards him when he broke ranks with his equally visceral uncle Bal Thackeray who too made no bones about his feelings for non-Marathas.

Where does Raj Thackeray get the funds to keep the trouble-makers in business? They do not seem to have any occupation apart from spotting non-Marathi traits in fellow Mumbaites or rampaging innocent people from other states who come to the city for livelihood.

Closure of textile mills long ago led to unemployment among the local Marathi population. Many of them ended up as Shiv Sainiks known for their rabid pro-Maratha sentiments. Under Raj Thackeray’s watch, they have been let loose to target migrant taxi drivers, labourers and innocent examinees in Mumbai for the Railway Board’s exams. Attacking outstation students is nothing new as Raj, while still with his famous uncle in 2003 allowed his supporters---Sainiks from the student wing Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS)---to pull out examinees from trains and beat them up leading to cancellation of Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) exams in Kalyan.

What sort of politics is going on in India? If a national party like the Congress lacks the effective mandate to govern on their own at the centre, do they also have to forgo the moral gumption to act hard on regional parties or their leaders who are bent on divisive politics?

Congress Party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan may have told reporters that Maharashtra’s government--- where the Congress is in power--- would take immediate steps to punish the guilty and bring them to justice, but, failed to convince skeptics why no action was taken against Raj Thackeray so far.

Earlier Raj was arrested in February this year but Shiv Sainik sentiments too were taken into account as Abu Azmi, a local Samajwadi Party leader, accused of inciting retaliatory actions for violence against north Indians, was also arrested.

If a party with an exemplary lineage and history ponders over the likes of Raj Thackeray, then there is something really wrong with the leadership in tackling a potential monster who can re-define regionalism and encourage similar acts elsewhere in the country. Apparently dilly-dallying on linguistic militancy and meting out exemplary punishment to a leader bent on nothing but narrow regionalism and cocking a snook at the administration every time his goons go on a rampage questions the Congress’s potency to tamp down on those ripping away at the very fabric of Indian society.

Similarly, as Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said, an inquiry should also be conducted why the job advertisements for the railways did not appear in Marathi language newspapers as well.

Again, there is very little noise from noted Marathis and Maratha civil society about the damage done to the image of Maharashtra by Raj Thackeray. If Maratha valour and courage is so awe inspiring to the MNS, Raj Thackeray should be aware that violence against guest workers, examinees and migrants from other states to Mumbai is effectively an act of cowardice.

It belittles the hype he chooses to generate about the Marathi manoos.

Why can’t he ban the Hindi Bollywood film industry when he gets so worked up with people from the industry who are comfortable speaking in Hindi instead of Marathi?

If closures of textile mills are the root cause of swelling of Shiv Sainiks, the Thackeray clan should take a lesson or two from West Bengal. Militant trade unionism turned the state into a graveyard for industries not too long ago, but it never gave rise to regional militancy based on linguistic or parochial lines.

If an Indian state chooses to shut the door to Indians and boots them out while the government fails to strike hard on the goons involved, the ability of the state to hold on to India’s ethos, is questionable.

And a debate should be initiated whether coalition governments propped up by a plethora of regional parties are in a position to take swift and stern action against divisive elements in a state or not even when the major political party’s government runs there.

Susenjit Guha

The author is a Kolkata based independent journalist writes for various news outlets. He can be contacted at sguha60@yahoo.com