Why does bigotry surprise the BJP?
by Farah Baria
Indian Express, August 29, 2008
Raj Thackeray manipulates the aggrieved Maratha manoos - but it’s a venerable Indian tradition
Why are we all in such a lather about Raj Thackeray? I mean, for a country well used to tearing its flimsy social fabric apart, we seem to be getting unnecessarily hot under the collar. This week, ‘cosmopolitan’ Bombay was ‘outraged’ by Raj’s vow to terrorise shops and businesses into displaying Marathi signboards, a self-styled “diktat” that is neither civil, legal nor constitutional. (By the way, since when has that stopped our leaders?). And earlier this year, Parliament was adjourned in a rare display of accord as angry MPs from the BJP, the BSP and the Janata Dal condemned his xenophobic crusade against North Indians as “a threat to national unity.”
Really? Correct me if I’m wrong, but if the politics of prejudice has always been institutionalised in this country, and its official architect is none other than BJP. In fact, ever since the riots that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid, cosmopolitan Bombay has become Mumbai, a city of communal ghettos. Meanwhile, the Janata Dal and the BSP have worked tirelessly to partition India on caste lines. And, with a quota policy that makes the Manusmriti sound egalitarian, the Congress hasn’t done too badly either.
Which is why the list of those who want Raj booked under Section 153 -A of the Indian Penal Code for “attempting to disturb communal harmony” is interesting, to say the least : LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal and Uma Bharati, all noteworthy North Indians who have been booked under the same section. (Pssst : in case you’re wondering, not one of them has been convicted). So xenophobia has always flourished in the subcontinental soil of bigotry, the neta’s tried-and-tested tool of ‘divide to rule’. So why blame only Raj?
For two reasons : apart from attracting enviable attention, he has done the unthinkable : hurt the fragile North Indian ego. Now let’s not forget that India is North India and Indians are North Indians, so discriminate, if you must, against ‘mians’ and ‘madrasis’, but leave the cow belt alone, please — its sacred. The other reason is pure economics. There was a time was when ethnic hatred was, well, ethnic hatred. Now it’s about fighting over money and jobs. More pragmatic than communal rhetoric, and definitely more relevant in a country where rapaciousness is the new religion. That’s why Raj’s USP — Maharashtra for Maharashtrians — works.
Fortunately, his rather clumsy strategy may not. Recently, when activists of his MNS party publicly bullied ‘elite’ English schools in Mumbai to admit their protégés, even diehard supporters were confused. (Did this qualify as a Jai Maharashtra promo?). And the current campaign to enforce Marathi nameplates is hardly the smartest way to woo jobs for his wards. Raj’s rationale : “ Marathi signboards respect the aspirations of the Marathi Manoos.” Surely that’s a grave miscalculation in a state where free Marathi medium schools are becoming extinct because even the poorest Marathi Manoos prefers to fork out for a private English education! Besides, surely this misunderstood manoos aspires to better things than quibbling about signboards!
If Raj really wants to empower the Marathi Manoos, he can begin by reviving Maharashtra’s callously neglected municipal schools. That way, they can ‘aspire’ to much more than competing with Bihari cabbies and UP doodhwalas at the bottom of the job market. But then, if the Marathi Manoos could aspire to better things, would he vote for Raj?
farah.baria@expressindia.com
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