Outlook Magazine, November 3, 2008
Life In The Raj Era
So what if the Sena mantle wasn't to be his? He has cast himself and his army in exactly the same mould. ......
by Smruti Koppikar
Sharmila and Raj Thackeray’s usual Diwali hamper is exquisitely crafted boxes with a selection of choice chocolates. When a friend asked why not Marathi mithai for the occasion, Raj shrugged, non-committal. He does not particularly like being challenged. This Diwali, Raj finds himself bang in the middle of a sort of confrontation he hadn’t planned on. The Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra, which he had assumed was on his side, suddenly turned the tables on him. The government’s Diwali gift: 54 cases in 30 police stations across the state. In addition, Raj faces charges of murder in two police stations in Bihar.
MNS workers being lathicharged
This sudden, seemingly tough crackdown is the only part that didn’t go according to the script Raj wrote out for himself when he was a young boy who spent more time with his uncle Bal Thackeray than with his father Shrikant. If there is a sense of deja vu in the Raj Thackeray story, it is completely intentional on his part. In manner and thought, in cartooning and satirical one-liners, in dress and gait, in belligerence and false bravado, Raj has so completely moulded himself in the image of Thackeray, and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on the Shiv Sena, that his relentless, name-calling, issue-obfuscating campaign against Uttar Bharatiyas—those from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh—invoked direct memories of the one his uncle had unleashed in the late ’60s.
Back then, as Bal Thackeray’s party was similarly targeting ‘Madrasis’, successive Congress governments turned a blind eye. The Sena flourished, thanks to then chief minister V.P. Naik’s refusal to act tough since it went well with the Congress party’s gameplan to use the Sena to counter the Left trade unions and the CPI(M). South Indians were stealing away jobs from Maharashtrians, thundered Thackeray Sr. North Indians are stealing away jobs, says Raj now. Touch me and Bombay will burn, threatened the older Thackeray. Arrest me and Mumbai will burn, declared his nephew last week. The idea of democracy and the rule of law did not hold appeal for the Sena’s tiger. Government does not understand the language of non-violence, said Raj recently.
Aged Tiger: Bal and Uddhav Thackeray at Sena's Dussehra rally
Take a genuine issue, highlight half-truths about it, exhort the "boys" to bully and bash the outsider, and hold the city to ransom. It was Bal Thackeray’s favourite formula. Raj has adopted it lock, stock and barrel. We profile the rise of Raj Thackeray with a few fundamental questions.
What is Raj Thackeray’s agenda?
It’s called chasing power. But a naked, hurried run hardly appeals to voters. Hence the need for an issue. Mumbai, teeming with migrants, stark disparities in growth and wealth, and a creaking infrastructure, presents many issues to rally people around. Migration is a highly emotive one, closely tied as it is to the idea of one’s identity. Raj has mischievously mixed up the two: equated all migration with lower-middle-class north Indians, their "mini Bihars" and "Bhaiyya bastis".
Raj’s modus operandi is best exemplified by his audacious declaration that "the Railway Recruitment ads were not printed in Marathi newspapers". When it was proved that local editions of papers had, indeed, carried pointer ads in February itself and the main ad had appeared in Employment Times, a national publication, he quickly changed tack to say that had the ads been prominent, Maharashtrians would have applied.
On the eve of his October 21 arrest, Raj asked: "Why does Chhat Puja become a show of strength for Biharis here, why don’t we see Navratri turning into a show of strength for Narendra Modi? Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha don’t come here.
If UP Day and Chhat Puja celebrations in Mumbai are not Amar Singh and Laloo Prasad Yadav’s dadagiri, what is?" To the average Maharashtrian, it looks as if someone’s willing to speak up on their behalf. To new political workers and lumpen MNS elements, it means "Saheb" can take on national leaders!
Why did the government and police take so long to crack down?
Strongarm tactics should have been met with judicious application of law. Since December last year, the Congress-NCP government has been behaving as if Raj’s challenge to the law is not worth responding to. In February this year, as also now, Raj was allowed a free run to do as he pleased.
It took as many as three notices from the Union government to the CMO to effect the crackdown. Pressure was also brought on the UPA government by allies like Laloo and Mulayam Singh. "I agree the action taken against Raj was too late," says Kripa Shankar Singh, chief of the Mumbai Congress unit.
Rail roko: Suburban trains being brought to a halt by MNS wokers in Mumbai. Does that help any manoos?
"It is shameful that we live in a city run by people who need a tough call from Delhi to do their simple duty," remarks Gerson da Cunha, former adman and activist. "The Bombay High Court recently dubbed Raj’s doings as ‘terrorism’. By this yardstick, I must call it state-sponsored terrorism. What else is it, when the chief minister and home minister stand around with creases on the forehead yes, but hands in the pocket?" he asks. With the state government unwilling to take a tough stand, the police hardly went beyond the usual registration of offences. The state human rights commission, acting on a complaint, had ordered in May that the police include Raj as instigator/ abettor in cases of violence across Maharashtra in February, despite which he was not proceeded against till now.
When a no-nonsense officer like K.L. Prasad, joint commissioner (law and order), challenged Raj—on the back of the Jaya Bachchan and Marathi-Hindi controversy—that "Mumbai does not belong to anyone’s father", Raj openly threatened him to come to the streets minus his uniform to figure out whom the city belonged to. A couple of weeks later, Prasad was made to give Raj "a clean chit".
Why did Congress-NCP government turn a blind eye all this time?
The government faces the prospect of two back-to-back Lok Sabha and assembly elections. From farmers’ suicides to power shortages, forcible land acquisitions to the mess that’s the Mumbai Makeover, the government faces a long list of charges. It would help if the Opposition, led by the Shiv Sena, is weakened. The delay in acting against Raj came from the belief that he’d help undercut the Sena by dividing the Marathi vote.
"The government has given Raj a very long rope. There are two players in this game—Raj and the government," points out Bharat Kumar Raut, journalist and Shiv Sena MP. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh rubbished suggestions that he treated Raj and the MNS with kid gloves. But Congress leaders acknowledge, in private, that games were being played. The NCP wanted to keep Raj in good humour because he might just turn out in the long run as an ally.
Do the arrests help Raj or hurt him?
Raj was arrested in the early hours of October 21 from a state guest house in Ratnagiri. If the government meant business, he could have been brought to Mumbai by a chopper within half-an-hour. Instead, the police convoy’s eight-hour road journey to Mumbai—tracked live by most television channels—brought more publicity to Raj than he had imagined. The night spent in Manpada police lock-up sent out the message that "he was willing to go through anything for his cause".
The Sena had often dismissed Raj as "a media creation". There’s some truth in that assertion.
Burning rage: Arson in Kalyan after Raj Thackeray's arrest
What impact will Raj have on the Sena?
This year’s annual Dussehra rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park was minus Bal Thackeray’s musings and witticisms. The ailing 82-year-old chief of the Sena merely wished his audience and listened to son Uddhav make his maiden Dussehra speech. Uddhav, now in charge, is staring at the sight of cousin Raj usurp the ground from beneath his feet.
The battle over the Marathi manoos has become a street fight between the cousins. The Shiv Sena was Raj’s political and personal ambition. Since the party was officially handed over to Uddhav in 2003, Raj set his sights on the turf that belonged to the Sena. In or outside the party, Raj sought to represent the Sena character. Uddhav spent the intervening years attempting to steer the Sena away from its rowdy character. In it lay Raj’s retribution. The more Uddhav tried to make the Sena un-Sena like, the more ground Raj clawed out for himself.
The MNS’s relentless anti-north Indian campaign means that the Sena is forced to reiterate the pro-Marathi philosophy. As Uddhav does so, he runs the risk of alienating the north Indian vote in Mumbai and Thane, which translates into risking 15-18 assembly seats. Alienating the Marathi vote is equally hazardous. This serves well Raj’s parallel and personal agenda: to decimate the Sena and reduce the stature of its executive president, Uddhav.
What are the charges against Raj?
There were, till October 23, 54 cases registered against Raj across Maharashtra. The sections common to almost all the cases are 153(a) and 153(b) of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity between communities, both non-bailable, followed by a host of bailable cases. Sources say that the government’s strategy now is to keep him tied up legally till the heat of the MNS agitation wears off, because the process of seeking anticipatory bail, or being arrested, produced and let out on bail is time-consuming. But there is an underside to all this flurry of legal activity. Since most cases are bailable, the government will come out looking as if it took action against Raj but the courts let him off on bail.
So, what happens to Raj now?
For a while, Mumbai should remain calm unless the MNS regroups itself and poses the same challenge to public law and order that it has done so far. The Congress and NCP, both of whom have a presence in Delhi, are caught in a bind. The anti-Raj action, however belated, has earned them a few brownie points with north Indian groups. But in the bargain, they could have lost out on the Marathi sympathy, and possibly some non-Sena votes that come their way. Congress leader—and Raj’s good friend—Narayan Rane, formerly with the Sena, has declared open support to Raj’s Marathi cause. NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal stated that people "who speak on behalf of Marathi manoos must not be allowed to be alone". Few politicians, and few voices in Mumbai’s civil society, have unequivocally condemned Raj for his divisive agenda. Another Thackeray, it seems, has a free run in Mumbai.
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