Bombay: Post-blasts, Shiv Sena shakes dust off the Hindutva plank

(The Financial Express, July 24, 2006)


STATES
Post-blasts, Sena shakes dust off the Hindutva plank
It has revived its Garv Se Kaho Hindu slogan, keeping in mind the ensuing elections to the local self-governments

SANJAY JOG

MUMBAI: Mumbai’s serial bomb blasts seem to have come as a blessing in disguise for the saffron Shiv Sena, which has been on the defensive after a series of setbacks. The latest being the resignation of two of its MLAs from Vidharbha region on Friday, bringing down Sena’s strength in the lower House to 56.

To derive political mileage from the recent blast, the party has revived its Garv Se Kaho Hindu or ‘Hindutva’ planks, keeping in mind the ensuing elections to the Mumbai municipal corporation and local self-governments in Maharashtra.

Interestingly, this time round, the Sena, which recently completed 40 years of its existence, is not interested in solely taking up the cause of “Marathi Manus” but accomodating Hindus in general. Its slogan of Hatao lungi bajao pungi (‘Oust south Indians’) way back in the 60s and 70s may become history as recently it organised a special get-together of Telugu-speaking people in Greater Mumbai. The Sena may make similar attempts to woo people from different regions under the Hindutva plank.

The party’s beleaguered executive president, Uddhav Thackeray, son of party supremo Bal Thackeray, has already launched a campaign in Mumbai and Pune to garner support for the Hindutva cause. Uddhav has tried to appeal to the Hindus against the ‘evil of appeasement politics practiced by Congress’.

• Sena is not interested in solely taking up the cause of “Marathi Manus”, but aims Hindus in general
• It organised a get-together of Telugu-speaking people in Greater Mumbai
• Uddhav Thackeray is running a campaign to garner support for the Hindutva cause
Sena’s electoral ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is still a shattered organisation after the death of Pramod Mahajan, is not far behind. It tried to establish its presence by inviting Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, to address a gathering to condemn the serial blasts. State BJP leader, Gopinath Munde, warned that if appeasement politics continued, his party would transform Maharashtra into Gujarat (which witnessed the killing of Muslims after the Godhra incident in 2002).

However, Sena and BJP insiders are not sure whether the Hindutva card would sell this time. Although they claim that Hindus in general were agitated over the killings of their brothers and sisters by terrorists, they are uncertain about whether these emotions can be translates into votes.

The ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine, too, seems a confused lot as it is under pressure to take a hard line against terrorists. However, both the parties are yet to open up their cards on how they plan to counter the revival of the Hindutva campaign by Sena and BJP in the state.