India - Maharashtra: Three wheeler auto rickshaws drivers at risk in Bombay after Raj Thackeray, the right wing chauvinist calls to target immigrant workers

Highlights

1. MNS Chief Raj Thackeray warns autos with new permits will be set on fire
2. Parties want hate speech case against him
3. Maharashtra doesn’t belong to anyone's father: Bihar's Tejaswi Yadav

Mumbai: Raj Thackeray, a seasoned practitioner of calls to target immigrant workers in Mumbai, must be punished for his latest hate speech, some parties in Maharashtra have demanded.
Yesterday, Mr Thackeray said three-wheelers with new permits will be set on fire because he alleged that nearly 70 per cent of  the  auto-rickshaws  recently cleared to run on Mumbai's roads belong to non-Maharashtrians.
"If any such auto with a new permit is seen plying on the road, those sitting inside will be asked to come out and the auto will be set on fire," he said in a speech on the 10th anniversary of his party being founded.[. . .]
http://www.ndtv.com/mumbai-news/autos-driven-by-non-marathis-will-be-set-on-fire-says-raj-thackeray-1285622

Raj ki aag or Aag ka raj?

by Javed Anand
Bombay was renamed Mumbai in 1995. It was among the first things the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition sarkar did on coming to power in Maharashtra. You might think the news has yet to reach ’em posh people who still refer to their quarter of the metropolis as ’South Bombay’. In fact, it’s SoBo now! Could SoBo symbolise a cosmopolitan resistance to the chauvinism of the Senas? Banish the thought, the SoBoietis love their Thackerays. (Perhaps Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, too.) Call it the mutual attraction of the bold and the beautiful.
FULL TEXT AT: http://bit.ly/TLT0Rp

Delhi court summons leader of MNS for alleged hate speeches

From: The Indian Express

Raj Thackeray summoned to Delhi for alleged hate speeches

Agencies : New Delhi, Thu Aug 30 2012, 21:27 hrs

A Delhi court today issued summons against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for his alleged hate speeches against north Indians and instigating violence against them on various occasions.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Manish Yaduvanshi directed that summons be issued against Raj Thackeray for September 28.
The court's order came on three different cases lodged against Thackeray, one of which pertains to attack by MNS supporters on north Indian students, including students from Bihar, appearing for the railways' entrance exam in Mumbai on October 20, 2008.
The case was registered on a complaint by an advocate Murad Ali. It was pending in the court of CJM in Betiya in Bihar before being transferred here.
Two other cases lodged by one Sudhakar Ojha relates to MNS chief's alleged remarks against "Chhath Pooja,' a Hindu festival celebrated especially in Bihar, calling it a "drama" and "show of numerical strength".
The three were among the seven cases transferred by the Supreme Court to Delhi in November 2011.
Of the seven cases, five were registered in Jharkhand and two in Bihar by different individuals. Thackeray had sought transfer of all the cases to one place.

Bombay Police Charge's leader of rightwing MNS for 2008 Railway Attack

BBC News, 19 November 2009

India leader charged with rioting

By Prachi Pinglay
BBC News, Mumbai



Mr Thackeray's MNS party is accused of attacks on migrant workers

Police in the western Indian city of Mumbai have charged the leader of a right-wing regional party with rioting during violence in the city last year. (Full Text)

o o o

Indian Express, 19 November 2009

Chargesheet against Raj

Bombay remains hostage to identity politics

The Indian Express
editorial, Oct 05, 2009

Wake up, Mumbai

When there’s an election round the corner, any random thing can become political dyamite. And when there’s an election round the corner in Maharashtra, there seems to be no end to the absurdity. Where else would a sweet and inoffensive slacker comedy like Wake up, Sid find itself as the flashpoint for fervid identity politics?

Raj Thackeray’s MNS threatened theatres from screening the movie, because it commits the cardinal sin of referring to the city as Bombay a few times (though it says Mumbai just as casually, and the lead characters work at a magazine called Mumbai Beat). Bollywood understands the language of violence, said Thackeray in silky Marathi doubtless — and sure enough, Karan Johar, one of the most powerful names in the industry, promptly proved him right. He went over to Thackeray’s place to apologise, and promised to insert a grovelling disclaimer before the movie. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan expressed his disgust with both the bully and the cowed victim, saying that the state was perfectly capable of providing security to Karan Johar, and that this apology was just a publicity stunt. But more charitably, maybe Johar had no desire to be the brave voice of dissent, and he figured a quick apology was better that inviting Thackeray’s inconvenient enmity. But if Karan Johar couldn’t stand up to a self-styled thug like Thackeray, what can less influential folks do but stay away from anything likely to attract his glowering attentions?

The point is not that Raj Thackeray (and Bal Thackeray before him) have seized upon Marathi manoos disenfranchisement to define a coarse and resentful politics — the point is that they get away with it. The city in Wake up, Sid is definitely not the hick town of Raj Thackeray’s dreams — it is indeed “Bombay”, the fabled gritty city where young people come from Kolkata and Bangalore, seeking their own private grails. Why isn’t our politics aggressively sticking up for that expansive vision? We know the uses of taking an extreme position: you help decide or determine where the centre will fall. By not countering the narratives, we — and indeed, quite glaringly, Chavan’s own administration — are letting goons forever blight the idea of Bombay.

FT interview with Raj Thackeray

Financial Times
Tuesday Apr 28 2009


ASIA-PACIFIC
India

Transcript: FT interview with Raj Thackeray

Published: April 28 2009 05:32 | Last updated: April 28 2009 05:32

Joe Leahy, Mumbai bureau chief, Varun Sood, Mumbai reporter, and James Fontanella-Khan, India editor FT.com, interviewed Raj Thackeray, founder of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) or Maharashtra Renaissance Army, with Anil Shirode, General Secretary of MNS, present last April. Here is an edited transcript of the interview translated from Hindi.

Financial Times: I want to ask you about your party name Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. What does MNS stands for?

Raj Thackeray: There are two to three things. When I was about to start a party at that time there were so many other parties. What was I going to tell the electorate? I had to decide what message I was going to convey through the name I gave my party. I had always believed I would make the party a state party and confine it to Maharashtra [the state of which Mumbai is the capital]. Hence, I started the party’s name with “Maharashtra”. [The second word I chose was] Navnirman [Renaissance] because in the past 60 years, since independence, India’s political parties have been fighting elections mainly on four to five issues. Despite this, we have never fulfilled [the promises contained in the campaigns regarding] those four to five issues. Everyone promises to invest money in electricity, roads and jobs. But that’s where things have ended [with the promises].

If we want to build something new, then we should show the people [of Maharashtra] something new. So I started a fresh new party. On March 19 [2006] when I presided at the first rally, I told the people these same things. So the whole philosophy [behind MNS] was to overcome the prevailing political hypocrisy. I needed to do something different. Now some time has passed since then but we are facing the same problems with agriculture, with water. The same lectures from our politicians are being proffered. They make promises but they are just that. There is nothing in them. Everyone promises to give free electricity, free housing, everything for free.

Right from that first rally, I thought to myself that if I stand for election, I will need to tell the people what I am going to do. I will need to map out a blueprint. What is the problem, and what is the solution. Today, this is the report on electricity and this is the report on water. We will go before the people with these reports.

During the last elections, the Congress [the main party in India’s ruling coalition] promised to provide free electricity. And then when they won the elections, they said that they couldn’t provide free electricity because it had been a printing mistake [in the manifesto]. How can it be a printing mistake? Hence, people have grown tired of listening to the many promises that the political parties have been making for so long now. And I myself, being first a citizen and second a leader of a political party, have also become tired of listening to unfulfilled promises. Hence, I formed this party to start something new.

Anil Shirode: The literal translation of MNS is Maharashtra New Creation Army. By army, I do not mean that we are some kind of militant outfit. In Maharashtra’s context, it means [we are] a people’s movement for justice.

FT: What are you doing to differentiate yourself from other established political parties, such as the Congress Party and their pledge to provide free electricity. What are your policies?

Raj Thackeray: I do not think anything should be given for free. Everything has a price attached to it. And also people do not want it for free. People just want these things to be reliable. If electricity is provided on a regular basis without load shedding, they will be willing to pay for it. In the last 10 years, we [Maharashtra State] have not been able to deliver one megawatt of [new capacity in] electricity. And they are promising to deliver it for free. I don’t think anything needs to be given for free. And I am not talking only of Maharashtra but of the whole world.

FT: The national elections are coming up. Will they be a test of sentiment for the MNS in the state elections scheduled later this year?

Raj Thackeray: Yes. The [national] elections will be a test. And hence, we do not want to fight all of the 48 seats [of Maharashtra in the national parliament]. One of the problems we face is [raising enough campaign] money. Thanks to the way the other political parties have corrupted the system, we cannot match them [for funding power] since our party is new. Therefore, we have decided to concentrate on contesting 10-15 seats. We are short on time also and this further means we cannot campaign in all seats.

The second thing is that although there are a lot of candidates in our party, most of them are new faces. They will take time to establish themselves. Hence, I am required to visit all our campaign seats. I do not have body doubles like Saddam Hussein had (laughs). So I, personally, do not have enough time to campaign in all of the 48 seats.

We will concentrate on contesting 10-15 seats because these Lok Sabha [lower house of the national parliament] elections are very important.

FT: Which seats will the MNS contest?

Raj Thackeray: All six seats from Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Pune, Nashik, and we are discussing which other seats we should nominate candidates for.

FT: I want to return to the theme of Regional Parties. What does that mean in your context? Your Maharashtra-based party campaigns on representing the cause of local Marathi people. How does it play out in your policies?

Raj Thackeray: The Lok Sabha elections highlight relations between the centre [Delhi] and the state [Maharashta]. Now, people accuse me of raking up the Marathi issue [the regional language of the Maharashtrian people]. I think every state or country has its own language and a certain pride of its own. So, when I ask that Marathi be spoken in this state [Maharashta], it is akin to asking that Italian be the spoken language of Italy. It is the same in the case of the French and English languages. In our country, there are numerous languages spoken. They have developed over many years into their present status.

So the locals here should be fed first and then the outsiders. And I think every state and every country has a similar policy.

FT: Do you believe there has been too much immigration into Mumbai?

Raj Thackeray: Every city or state has a limited capacity with regards to its ability to provide adequate facilities. The taxpayer is entitled to some essential things. Families should be able to provide their children with playgrounds and find places for them in schools. There should be enough hospitals. Water should be provided to all. Surplus electricity should be available. The taxpayer should be comfortable. Today there is such an influx [of people] that 40,000 live in slums next to the pipeline that provides water to the city of Mumbai.

Then there is the issue of terrorism. We do not know who is a terrorist and who is a migrant worker.

In addition, although I do not have anything against people coming from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the political leaders from those states follow their people to Mumbai and build constituencies here. .. When Indians go abroad to work, they do not build political constituencies over there. Today, Tamils and people from other states come and reside [in Mumbai] but their leaders don’t come here. It is only the political leaders from [UP and Bihar] who are coming here. You see the political slogans of leaders like Mayawati [chief minister of UP and leader of the BSP party] written on walls here. When I talk about Marathi, you accuse me of threatening Indian unity. But Maywati writes: ‘BSP is fighting for North Indians.’ What does that mean?

So on one hand this influx [of people to Mumbai] is creating problems for the taxpayer, and then they go and create [their own] constituencies. These are the basic issues I am highlighting. I have many non-Maharastrian friends. Mumbai has had non-Maharastrian people staying here for many decades. When have I created a ruckus about them?

FT: You’ve stated that the city lacks the capacity to house an influx of non-Maharastrian people. Should these people be stopped from coming.

Raj Thackeray: You have to stop these people from coming in because we have reached the maximum capacity of the city of Mumbai. We do not have places [for them] to stay. And then these people coming from outside and encroach upon municipal and government lands and set up slums. In today’s Mumbai, can you take your children out safely? Is there a place? Is there an open garden where parents can safely take their children out in the evenings? And then we have this daily influx of families. How will we discover who is a terrorist and who is a normal person? Worldwide, wherever you go there are checks. But here in Mumbai, they are non-existent. Here, two to three taxis work under the one taxi permit with the same number plate on their cars. What kind of a system is this? It defies sense. What kind of a migration is this?

Why doesn’t someone ask the politicians of the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar why they do not develop their states? They are gobbling up the world’s money, running the central government and sending their people to other states. So whatever has happened has happened. Enough is enough. We need to put an end to this migration.

FT: But how do you stop this migration? India is a free country, there are no controls on the borders …

Raj Thackeray: It is a simple thing. There are laws for it. If only they are implemented, then these migrants cannot come. The migrants come thinking there is space here for them. They can come and live anywhere ... encroach on any pavement and live on any land. But if the government stops them, then where will the migrants stay? If they don’t have a place to stay, why would they come? So if this message can be sent to those planning to come into our cities, they will stop coming. And all these laws are there but because of a lack of political will, these things continue unchecked.

Anil Shirode: There is a 1973 act that states that migrants have to take permission from the state to which they are migrating. They need to have separate ID cards. Also, if any industry is employing more than five migrants, then it needs to take permission from the precinct authorities.

FT: One of the problems with migrants is that political parties, such as your previous party, the Shiv Sena, have used these people as vote banks.

Raj Thackeray: That is what I am coming to. We have schemes such as the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme through which we can build housing for the slumdwellers. But how can your house all the new people coming everyday?

Today, Maharashtra’s financial health is good. We can house all the migrants and people who are residing in the state. Maharashtra is a progressive state … people are coming for a better life. But the continuing fresh influx of people has to stop. Today, there are 350-400 families coming into Mumbai alone every day. How can we provide the necessary infrastructure for them? And moreover, job security is the most important priority when migration happens in other countries. Here, in our state, a person comes first and then scouts for a job. This way no state or country can run.

FT: So you do not have problems with migrants who are already based here. It is only that you do not welcome any new migration?

Raj Thackeray: Absolutely.

FT: Once you said that one of every three employees in Silicon Valley is a Marathi. So people from this state have been welcomed in other states/countries. So don’t you think people from other places should be welcomed from outside?

Raj Thackeray: If there are jobs, then no problem. Why did the US accept all the Maharasthrians? The answer is because the country had jobs. They never overlooked the interests of the US citizens. But in our state, locals are not getting jobs and outsiders are working. First we need to feed those in our own house. If there are surplus jobs, I will call the outsiders, if required. There are 4m unemployed registered with the Employment Exchange Board. No one is getting a call from any employer. And to make matters worse, we have migrants coming who compete for jobs against the locals. So if this tension flares up, then who will be answerable?

FT: We would cross-check the figure of 4m registered with Employment Exchange…

Raj Thackeray: See, there is an act called as Minimum Wages Act. No industry is abiding by it. Now these people from outside can work for as little as Rs2,000-2,500 instead of Rs4,000. So laws are being flouted by industry and the government and this is giving rise to the current wave of tensions. Today, industry favours contract workers over regular or permanent workers. And these contract workers are non-locals. It is not that the locals are not ready to work for below-average wages. If industry asks them to work for lower wages they [the locals] are ready to do so. But here again, they [the locals] do not know where the jobs are being created. There are no advertisements.

FT: Will you ask people to vote on this issue and if you come into power, will you enforce these laws?

Raj Thackeray: Absolutely. In Himachal Pradesh, an industry can be set-up only when it gives in writing that 80 per cent of jobs will be given to locals. Himachal Pradesh is a part of this country right?

FT: Why cannot the locals work for low wages?

Raj Thackeray: They are ready to work but they don’t know where the jobs are. Industries which set up shop, they do not want unions. If they take locals, there would be strong unions. Hence they fear having locals. …

FT: What about the incidents of violence against migrants attributed to your party ...

Raj Thackeray: Basically, what happened was that… [You people not feeling hot? Can we turn on the air-conditioner?]

When I spoke about this thing, I mentioned about Uttar Pradesh day and Chhath puja [a religious festival]. Now there is nothing like Uttar Pradesh day. When India became independent, states were carved out on linguistic lines. Maharashtra for Marathis, Bengal for Bengalis.

The leaders from these states [UP and Bihar] are trying to mobilise people in the city by celebrating such festivals. I have never opposed Chhath puja. But the political tamasha [drama] being played in the backdrop of it by these leaders is something I oppose. A leader from [the UP-based] Samajwadi party, Abu Azmi, said that if someone opposed the Chhath puja, he would bring 20,000-armed people from Azamgarh [Mr Azmi’s village in Uttar-Pradesh] into Mumbai. At the same time, there was a rally of the Samajwadi party in the city where some inflammatory comments were made and tensions built up. There was just this single incident. Other than that there has been nothing. But the English language and Hindi media - owned by the media barons from the states of Uttar-Pradesh, Bihar, and Delhi – claimed that people from UP and Bihar were being attacked. You go and ask people on the streets whether such a thing they were projecting on their channels happened?

But let’s also understand something. If they [the politicians from the northern states] say something inflammatory in their rallies, they will face repercussions in equal measure.

FT: At that time, there was also coverage of violence against migrants in Nashik [a smaller city in Maharashstra]. Was that also done by your party?

Raj Thackeray: See, at a lot of places, locals were involved and it was not entirely our party members. The migrants detest the locals. This is happening here in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik ... many places. The migrants do not respect the locals. The locals then become upset and this spreads. Also, when I was arrested, there was some violence [he was arrested for allegedly making inflammatory comments].

FT: Do you condone the violence?

Raj Thackeray: I do not regret anything. I do not want any violence. But they also should not be aggressive towards us because this could lead to violence. On this same problem, in Assam [another Indian state] people’s throats are slit, they are gunned down. In Manipur too a similar thing is happening. We have problems related to this issue in Punjab, Delhi and Haryana. There no one speaks about this. We do not have violence of the same magnitude here. The leaders of UP and Bihar are responsible for [increasing this type of violence].

FT: Now the issue with Amitabh Bachchan [the Bollywood actor who hails from UP]. There was this controversy in the media where you said he should be more patriotic about Mumbai ...

Raj Thackeray: I had said something then which I would like to say again now. Be it Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar. These people are respected globally. Amitabh Bachchan contested his first election as a representative of UP and not Maharashtra … No problem … Then he becomes a brand ambassador for UP .... I have a speech of his which says that: ‘I have lived in Delhi and Kolkata [West Bengal] but my identity is rooted more in UP than anywhere else.’

If these Indian global figures can have so much love for their states, can’t such a small leader like Raj Thackeray also love his state? When I talk about espousing the cause of my state, you accuse me of threatening national unity. But big stars like Amitabh Bachchan can do it.

FT: So are you implying that any “global” Indian who happens to live in Mumbai should not express his love for the state of his birth? Should he refer to himself as an Indian first ...

Raj Thackeray: The thing is that every person loves his state or region. If Raj Thackeray expresses love for his state, I am accused threatening national unity. But when such a big star expresses his love for just one state, don’t his fans from other states feel hurt? Every person loves his or her state. … Why do you get miffed when I express love for my state?

FT: How do you organise your party? I understand you admire some aspects of Adolf Hitler.

Raj Thackeray: [Laughs]. … Every individual has good things and bad things about him. If one admires the good aspects of a person, then what is the issue? Now whether it is Adolf Hitler or Mahatma Gandhi, I respect and appreciate both in equal measure. I respect him [Adolf Hitler] for his love for his country and not for the extermination of Jews. I respect him for his development work ... The world’s first autobahn was done under his tenure.

Will you remember Bill Clinton for reviving the US economy or for the Monica Lewinsky episode?

Our party also has a system. Just like in a pyramid, after me, there is a set of 15 people, and then 50 and then 500.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Study on Migration to Bombay - Counter's Raj Thackeray's Propaganda

The Telegraph
25 January 2009

Migrant facts for Raj
- Half of Mumbai’s settlers are Marathi: Study

by Cithara Paul

Raj Thackeray addresses a rally in Thane on Saturday. He resumed his campaign against north Indians, describing Uttar Pradesh as a “den of terrorism” and accusing Mayavati and Lalu Prasad of playing caste politics. (Fotocorp)

New Delhi, Jan. 24: Raj Thackeray’s hooligans may have beaten up some of their fellow Maharashtrians, after all.

A recent study has revealed that the popular perception that migrants were flooding Mumbai from other states, especially Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, is not entirely true.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences claims that nearly half the number of migrants in the country’s commercial capital are from rural areas of Maharashtra.

The survey, which covered over 12,500 households across Greater Mumbai and seven surrounding urban centres, said people from Uttar Pradesh accounted for 20 per cent of the migrants and those from Gujarat 9 per cent.

“There has been much furore regarding the growth of migrant population from other states in Maharashtra. However, data show quite different results,” TISS associate professor Ramakumar said.

The findings should rile Raj because Maharashtrians could have been among the crowds his men targeted during their violent Maharashtra-for-Marathis agitation last year.

The MNS chief had to even spend a night in a lock-up after cases piled up against him and the state government cracked down following widespread protests.

The study said most of the Maharashtra-born migrants were from districts like Ratnagiri, Thane and Raigad, though the number of people settling in Mumbai from other parts of the state was coming down.

Of the total migrant population in Mumbai, the study said, most were Hindus (76 per cent), followed by Muslims (12 per cent).

The study revealed a lopsided sex ratio, with only 743 females for every 1,000 males among the migrants, about half of whom were from the upper castes.

According to the survey, nearly 68 per cent of the migrants were below 25 at the time of migration. Another point revealed by the survey was that a significant proportion of these migrants (22 per cent) were children.

The study found out that three-fourth of the migrants had come from rural areas, most of them forced to leave home because of agrarian distress. “This makes Mumbai unique in terms of its ruralised urbanisation,” the study said.

The main reasons the migrants cited for coming to Mumbai included the usual ones like jobs and business, education, marriage and even family feud.

Not many migrants had a job when they came to the city and one-third had to wait for more than a year to find employment.

According to the study, the migrants maintained close contact with friends and relatives back home and one in eight regularly sent remittances in cash or kind.

Letter to Editor: Re Raj Thackeray's 'ban' the Music and books by Pakistani Musicians/writers

Madam/Sir

The fatwa by Nav Nirman Sena's (MNS) boss Raj Thackeray to 'ban' the Music CDs and books by Pakistani Musicians/writers is akin to terrorizing the society yet again. MNS which has gained notoriety for its attacks on North Indians was totally quiet when Mumbai faced the terrible attack. Since the phenomenon of terrorism has been due to formation of Al Qaeda by US, with the goal of controlling the oil wells in the region, the same US has also used Pakistan as its base to do serious damage to the World as a whole and India in particular by planting this cancer of terrorism. Today we are witnessing the left-over of the same phenomenon. As a matter of fact it is time that India-Pakistan come together to solve this problem. Within Pakistan itself Pakistan army is playing hawk and any military confrontation in the region will be counterproductive to both the countries. It is imperative that India as a bigger power sets the tone for peace and interaction with Pakistani Government and civic society to have a peaceful South Asia. It will be shortsighted to spread Hate against our neighbor. Our firm and reasoned stand can bring in Pakistani democratic Government and civic society to have joint efforts to root out the evil of terrorism, the evil which has also demonized Islam and Muslims. MNS politics is not only short sighted it will harm the interests of our nation.

Ram Puniyani

Secretary, All India Secular Forum
1102/5 MHADA Rambaug Powa Mumbai
www.pluralindia.com
ram.puniyani@gmail.com
ph 25704061

'It's too late to contain Raj Thackeray'

rediff.com

The Rediff Interview/Social activist Dr Ram Puniyani

'It's too late to contain Raj Thackeray'

Dr Ram Puniyani

November 07, 2008

Dr Ram Puniyani, professor in biomedical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, also pursues a parallel career concerned with issues related to social problems, particularly the ones related to preservation of democratic and secular ethos. He says that acts of omission by the state have led to acts of commissions by vested interests.

Dr Puniyani, who is also a member of the Ekta Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai, shared a few moments with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa regarding various burning issues of the day including Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's [Images] actions, terrorism, forcible conversion and the Sangh Parivar.

What are your views on Raj Thackeray?

Well if you look at it, Raj is towing the line of his uncle (Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray [Images]) and that is separatism in the name of linguistics. There seems to be nothing new in what he is doing and it is just an inheritance of a political legacy.

Do you think Raj has been successful in his actions?

Yes he has been successful in stirring up a section of the masses. Unemployment creates a fertile ground to raise such issues and Raj has taken advantage of this. There is a large section of people who are still swayed by such acts. The unemployed youth of Maharashtra have started seeing this man as their saviour and these are the persons who will vote for him finally.

Has this man become so big that Mumbai shuts down when he is arrested? Don't you think that it is time that he is contained?

In my view this man has grown too big. In fact it is too late to contain him now. He has made his point, but the violence ought to stop. It is the duty of the state government to ensure that everyone has a right to live in peace in Mumbai.

Who do you think is responsible for the sudden growth of Raj Thackeray?

The Congress party, of course. If you look at the entire issue it is clear that the party's plan has backfired. They used Raj to eat into the Shiv Sena vote bank and now this man has grown so big that he is even eating into the Congress votes. The Congress let the violence take place initially, but all of a sudden they have realised that he is emerging as a major force. They are now trying to contain him. When arresting him the government should have plugged the holes. If they had done so Mumbai city would not have witnessed such madness.

Coming to the Sangh Parivar, a subject that you have been dealing with closely, do you think that a ban on Bajrang Dal would be the answer for a more peaceful society?

Bans do not work. According to me the Bajrang Dal and the Students Islamic Movement of India are in the same league as they both fight for their ideologies. A ban is a very minor issue. According to me, the perpetrators of violence should be put behind bars.

There are allegations that right-wing Hindu activists are involved in acts of terror. What are your views?

Yes there are reports of their involvement in acts of terror. The matter should be probed thoroughly. Muslims are being blamed for every act of terror. What we need is concrete proof and not extractions of confessions under torture.

You have written a lot about the death sentence to Afzal Guru (accused in the Parliament attack case). Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have been at loggerheads over hanging him. What do you think ought to be done?

The National Democratic Alliance should not forget that Afzal's mercy petition was pending before the President during their regime. They had not acted upon it at that time. Why are they blaming this government now? In my view I think Afzal Guru should be awarded a life sentence. The death penalty is not the answer here.

But is it fair? The Supreme Court has held a man guilty for an attack on the symbol of democracy -- the Indian Parliament and politicians from Jammu and Kashmir [Images] say that the state will burn if he is hanged. How can they hold the country ransom?

I see a valid point that was made by the politicians from Jammu and Kashmir regarding this issue. In 1983, Maqbool Bhat was hanged in the valley and matters took an ugly turn. Regarding Afzal Guru they were just sounding a caution and it was not a threat. There is a need to win over the hearts of the people in the valley.

What do you make of the Sangh Parivar's allegations regarding forcible conversions?

I feel that this propaganda is wrong although I must add that there are stray cases. But the answer would lie in the statistics of 1971 and 2001 census. The 1971 census showed that there were 2.6 crore Christians in India and the 2001 census says that there were 2.16 crore. This is an indication that the population has fallen and there are no mass conversions as is being alleged.

Then why is the Sangh Parivar on a rampage in Orissa?

We have been looking at Orissa closely and I must say that the Sangh Parivar is trying to suppress the voice of the Adivasis. Christian missionaries are involved in imparting education to the Adivasis and the Sangh Parivar is worried that the Adivasis may become empowered which in turn will affect their vote banks.

So according to you all Christian missionaries are saints and they are only bothered about empowering the oppressed classes in society.

I am not saying that all missionaries are saints. There are instances where they behave in an aggressive manner. But to generalise is not correct.

Raj Thackeray, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and 'Marathi manoos'

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.

Does the Maharashtra admin have the will to shut down Raj Thackeray's outfit

Daily News and Analysis, October 21, 2008

After north Indians, who?

by Sidharth Bhatia


Raj Thackeray still doesn’t have the Shiv Sena’s clout; he might therefore raise the ante

So the police finally arrested Raj Thackeray. Was it because of the pressure on Vilasrao Deshmukh by the party high command or the ruckus in the Lok Sabha over the violence against north Indians by MNS workers or just a sudden burst of governance? Whatever it was, the government did it. The last time he was taken into police custody and let off after a few token minutes, nothing untoward happened in Mumbai. This time round, there was sporadic violence, shops and establishments (and schools) shut down and people stayed at home, mostly out of fear. However, many also ventured out to work and in some areas the shops remained open; it is what newspapers call, a “mixed response”. Thackeray and his followers want to show that their writ runs in Mumbai and they have the power to shut it down at whim.

This is important for Raj Thackeray; it would make him a formidable power in the political stakes in the city and the state. More important, it would put him on par with his uncle Bal Thackeray, whose Shiv Sena wields this kind of muscle. From then onwards, portraying himself successfully as the true heir of Thackeray senior is but a step.

Raj Thackeray has tried several different tactics towards that end. He tried product differentiation — when the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was formed, he set out to attract a wide spectrum of followers, including Muslims and Dalits, two constituencies that have stayed away from the Shiv Sena. He got two stars for that from liberal commentators who felt that he was turning over a new leaf, but the strain proved too much in the end. Once it was clear that this wasn’t going to yield electoral advantage, Thackeray realised that he could not stray too far from the Sena line. Thus began attacks on north Indians; if that doesn’t work, he will try and target other ethnic groups.

The English media may not have noticed it, but resentment against ‘bhaiyyas’ has been growing among Marathi-speakers for some time. The reasons are not far to seek: Uttar Bharatiyas are among the most visible new migrants into Mumbai (and other centres) in the last two decades or so and come into contact with Mumbaikars in several ways on a daily basis — as security guards, auto-drivers, cabbies and vegetable vendors. Large swathes of the northern suburbs are full of lower-middle class north Indians. Thackeray says they are taking away local jobs, but it is doubtful that young Maharashtrians want to take to those professions.

Maharashtrians, mainly but not only upper caste ones have been fretting about loss of identity and culture. Youngsters want to migrate and those who stay back do not want to identify with the language. Like other youngsters, they want to learn English and join the wider world.

Thackeray moved swiftly to cash in on this resentment. He launched an anti-Uttar Bharatiya tirade and his followers began by beating up taxi drivers. The younger Thackeray remembered well the lessons learnt on his uncle’s knee; Bal Thackeray had launched the Shiv Sena with an anti-south Indian tirade, chiefly because they were becoming successful in the restaurant trade.

Having tasted initial success, Raj Thackeray has played different variations on the same theme, all the while making sure that he talks about the Marathi manoos. His intention is clear — come to me, he is telling disaffected Maharashtrians, the Shiv Sena isn’t the power it used to be and won’t look after your interests. With each round of anti-Uttar Bharatiya violence, Raj Thackeray must feel emboldened because the state government is shown up as powerless in containing him. But this will get him only short-term gains. In time, it will become obvious that beating up poor Uttar Bharatiyas does not impress Maharashtrians much — they may be prejudiced, but they are getting fed up of the regular violence. Young Maharashtrians are joining the white collar service sector and are not necessarily enamoured of the same things that attracted a previous generation.

It is likely that a frustrated Raj Thackeray will then increase the pitch in his bid to find other things to gain attention. Remember, the Shiv Sena too moved from attacking south Indians to Gujaratis to eventually Muslims till they found a workable electoral formula; the MNS may follow the same trajectory, each time using violence as the preferred weapon.

But, the latest high-pitched agitation in Mumbai and the television coverage notwithstanding, there is little doubt that he still hasn’t won his spurs. There was fear, but Mumbaikars have realised that he does not have the clout of his uncle. The Shiv Sena cadre has not shifted to him in large numbers; there was no network of shakas to bring Mumbai to a complete halt. This provides the government a good opportunity to nip the Raj Thackeray phenomenon in the bud and call his bluff. But does Vilasrao have it in him to do it?
Email: sidharth01@dnaindia.net

Maharashtra: Raj Thackeray - Editorial comment in Times of India

The Times of India, October 22, 2008

Editorial

The Outsiders

If he was arrested, Raj Thackeray had warned, the Maharashtra government would have to suffer some consequences. Come Tuesday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists did their utmost to deliver on his threat. His arrest in Ratnagiri by the Mumbai police was an important step in the right direction. It was, however, just the beginning of a process of accountability. Muddying the waters is the fact that he has not been brought in on the non-bailable warrant issued by a Jamshedpur court on September 30. Instead, he has been arrested in connection with the MNS’s attack on north Indian candidates appearing for a railway recruitment examination in Mumbai; it happens to be a bailable warrant. But in any legal manoeuvring that follows, a larger picture must not be overlooked.

Raj and the MNS have no compunctions about operating outside the country’s constitutional framework. The methods adopted by them go beyond being merely extralegal; they are anti-national in nature. Their rhetoric is divisive, aimed at promoting regional bias and parochial vote banks. Their actions deny citizens of the northern part of the country their basic rights. Worryingly, their tactics are a symptom of the malaise affecting several parts of the Indian polity. Dissent is a fundamental right in a democracy but its expression here has been subverted by a spectrum of political leaders. MNS activity in Mumbai, attacks on Christians in various parts of India, Mamata Banerjee’s disruptive agitation in Singur or the CPM’s violence in Nandigram are all of a piece.

When a minister reasons in Parliament — as Shiv Sena’s Anant Geete did — that the Railway Recruitment Board’s faulty policies are to blame for the violence against the exam candidates, it points to a disconnect between politicians and the system they are meant to uphold. People are bound to differ over competing interests. These disputes must be channelled through the safety valves provided by the democratic model, that is, through public discourse, a free press, the judiciary, and, ultimately, elections. If the MNS wishes to represent Maharashtrians, it must do so from within the democratic system as their elected representative.

Politicians operating outside the system are, sadly, not the only ones working against it. When Parliament meets for just 32 days in a year as fraught as this, it is as disheartening a symptom of the malaise. If elected representatives can make a mockery of Parliament by not caring to be there, they merely encourage the likes of Raj, who said, ominously, on Sunday that the state’s rulers did not understand the language of non-violence, leaving him no option but to be violent.

Editorial in The Hindu on the arrest of Raj Thackeray

The Hindu, October 22, 2008

Arrested at last

Raj Thackeray, the estranged nephew of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, clearly revels in challenging the limits of the law. For quite some time, under his leadership, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has adopted a highly provocative and confrontational approach, unleashing a strategy designed to whip up Marathi regional chauvinist sentiment, thereby reviving a discredited political platform. On Sunday, its target was north Indians who had come to Mumbai to take a Railway Recr uitment Board (RRB) test for graduates seeking appointment as assistant station masters, guards, and reservation clerks. The MNS activists insisted that only Marathis be allowed to take the all-India test and shockingly proceeded to beat up north Indian candidates. The MNS needs no real reason to target those they see as “outsiders” in Maharashtra. The RRB candidates were apparently marked for attack because of a growing perception that an increasing number of Biharis were proving to be successful in such all-India tests. But over the last decade or so, candidates have begun to take tests across railway zones. Also forgotten in the skewed political debate is the fact that the interest in jobs across zones is a result of the new avenues for population migration, and the multiplication of job opportunities in the major centres. Yet logic or reason clearly does not count in the cold calculations of the MNS which has seized upon this issue as another example of its argument that Marathis are losing out in the job market in their own home State. The MNS is evidently looking for new fodder to feed the insecurities of sections of the Marathi community whom they hope to recruit to their parochial political vision.

As expected, the arrest of Mr. Thackeray has led to street protests and stone-pelting by the MNS activists in Mumbai. But the State government should not lose its nerve in the important task of insisting that Mr. Thackeray like any other citizen must obey the rule of the law and face the consequences of breaching it. For too long has the State government feared taking action against the MNS leader, anticipating this kind of backlash from the MNS cadres. Mr. Thackeray, who desperately needed to win public attention to further his political career after having quit the Shiv Sena, was thus emboldened to stretch the limits of the law. The State government must make it very plain that it will not tolerate any breach of law. Also, on no account should the opportunistic and parochial politics of the MNS and its leader, Mr. Thackeray be allowed to have any sway in a State where its capital Mumbai is a shining example of the triumph of the cosmopolitan spirit.

Mumbai taken hostage by politics of Chauvinism

The Indian Express, Oct 22, 2008

Excluding Raj

For the best part of this year, Raj Thackeray has held Mumbai hostage with intimidation and a discourse of exclusion. This weekend footsoldiers of his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena were at it again, terrorising and beating up north Indian aspirants at a Railway Recruitment Board examination in Mumbai. The incident was of a piece with Thackeray’s politics, which began this year with dog-whistle threats against north Indians in Mumbai with an attack on Amitabh Bachchan for his good works outside Maharashtra — and sustained thereafter with bully tactics to have Marathi signage in the city, the usual chatter about Chhat Puja, absurd announcements of programmes to train the “natives” for services rendered by “migrants”, etc. He has, these intervening months, also flexed his muscles by taunting police officers for saying nothing more provocative than that they would want to enforce the rule of law in the city. For the violence of this week, he was finally arrested on Tuesday morning.

The law, with this delayed action against Thackeray, must take its course. But the law alone is not enough to address the many crimes of Raj Thackeray. The ideas and intimidation unleashed by his politics require a political response. For all of this year, that political response has been felt by its silence. Thackeray has been quite skilful in trying to carve away for himself chunks of his uncle’s constituency. As he has tried to fragment the old Shiv Sena constituency and populism, other political parties in Maharashtra have stood by rather too meekly. The political response that he’s drawn has come from outside, from the national spokespersons of political parties and from north Indian politicians. Politicians in Maharashtra have been guarded. This has led some to draw the obvious conclusion that they would not like to take on Raj Thackeray, in the hope that as the competition between the Shiv Sena and MNS intensifies they could be gainers of parts of the old Sena votebank.

This is a dangerous silence. Thackeray’s MNS is still of uncertain ballast in the state’s or even the city’s electoral politics. But his hate speech and his success rate in getting the media to linger long on his comments, to play them over and over again for amplified assertion, have kept him in business. So, even with his arrest and its aftermath he is certain to keep the spotlight and to set the discourse. Unless the...

internal politics of Maharashtra asserts itself meaningfully, Thackeray will nourish an Us versus Them discourse....

Ethnic and linguistic chauvinism in Maharashtra damaging to cultural freedom

SAHMAT

8, Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg

New Delhi-110001

Telephone-23711276/ 23351424

e-mail-sahmat@vsnl.com

12.9.2008

PRESS STATEMENT

We are alarmed at the damage to cultural freedom and the larger repercussions -- in terms of intolerance and lawlessness -- arising from the unseemly competition between different elements of the Thackeray clan for the mantle of Mumbai’s most extreme exponent of ethnic and linguistic chauvinism.

The traditions of cultural creativity and freedom that Mumbai is rightly proud of, are gravely threatened in this cynical game of competitive extremism.

We condemn the witch-hunt and the crass campaign of social ostracism launched by Raj Thackeray and his party, the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena, against the actor Amitabh Bachchan for statements made by his wife, Jaya Bachchan.

If mob fury can be unleashed (though admittedly only symbolically) against a celebrity couple just because one among them insists on speaking in the language of the state she represents in politics, one wonders what fate Raj Thackeray and his followers have reserved for the millions of migrants from the Hindi-speaking area, who contribute richly to the daily life of India’s greatest metropolis.

We appreciate the fact that Raj Thackeray has since seen the wisdom of toning down his rhetoric and scaling back his campaign. But this we fear, has less to do with doing what is right and reasonable, than with doing what is opportune.

That the game of ethnic chauvinism, once launched with such virulence, admits little scope for moderation, is borne out by the manner in which the Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray – whose baneful though politically profitable legacy is what the whole fight today seems to be about -- has chosen to enter the fray.

Asserting his presumptive rule that anybody who comes to Mumbai for a career should leave behind all other loyalties and partake of what he deems the unique and indivisible Marathi culture of the city, the elder Thackeray recently castigated the Hindi film star, Shahrukh Khan, for referring to his antecedents in Delhi.

Celebrities may by virtue of their status, enjoy immunity from these periodic outbursts of hate and intolerance, but the ensuing climate embodies a very real threat to the millions of Mumbaikars who, despite their cultural differences, contribute to the vitality of India’s greatest metropolis.

We deplore the reaction of several members of Mumbai’s film community to the statement by actor Shabana Azmi, that Muslims suffer from a degree of institutional discrimination in India. Surely there is little in what she said that would seem exceptionable to people in an industry that believes in chronicling life in this vast country in all its complexities.

That extremism is not the exclusive preserve of any one party is proven by the recent edict by a member of the Muslim clergy against actor Salman Khan, for his participation in the Ganesh Chaturthi festivities.

We call upon the authorities and in particular, civil society in Mumbai, to call an immediate halt to this cynical game. Stoking imagined grievances may be a convenient way for politicians and celebrities to keep themselves in the media spotlight, but the climate of intolerance this creates will have severe consequences for those without the armour of wealth and status, who alas, all too often lack the protection of the law too.

Ram Rahman, Vivan Sundaram, M.K.Raina, Madan Gopal Singh, Sohail Hashmi and Indira Chandrasekhar

A Hindu Right Winger's Direct Appeal To Police Play Chauvinist

Insidious intent

by Kalpana Sharma
IndianExpress.com August 30, 2008

Raj Thackeray’s direct appeal to the Maharashtra police undermines the very spirit of law-enforcement


The immediate crisis over Marathi signboards for all shops in Mumbai might have subsided with the intervention of the Bombay High Court and the state government’s firmness, but several larger issues remain unresolved. The Bombay High Court, in response to a petition by the retail traders’ federation has insisted that the “rule of law must prevail” and that “no one can hold the state to ransom”. The court was referring to the manner in which activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, at the urging of their chief Raj Thackeray, had gone around the city threatening and attacking shops that did not display signboards in Marathi.

However, a far more serious issue remains unaddressed. Besides urging his cadre to virtually take the law into their own hands, Raj Thackeray also wrote an open letter to the Maharashtra police urging them not to “pick up lathis and serve externment notices” against members of the MNS who were terrorising local shopkeepers into displaying signboards in Marathi.

In a letter addressed to “all my police brothers and sisters”, Raj Thackeray has claimed that the agitations conducted by his party are “directly and indirectly for you all”. Maharashtra’s “entire police force (except some IPS officers) is Marathi,” he writes. “You have an idea of the way in which Maharashtra and the Marathi language is being strangled in Maharashtra by bhaiyyas and some baniyas”. He then appeals to their consciences before they move against MNS workers. “Will you and your families like it in case the Marathi language and Maharashtra die at the hands of these bhaiyyas and baniyas?” he asks.

The job of the police in any state is to enforce the law and the spirit of the Constitution. Is not such an appeal directly violative of this spirit? Try and imagine a situation in Mumbai if a Muslim leader appealed to Muslim policemen to follow their conscience and not arrest innocent Muslims each time there is a terror attack? Would he be allowed to get away with it?

Ever since he launched his party, Raj Thackeray has been treading on dangerous ground. Beginning with an attack on so-called “outsiders” seeking jobs in the state, he has continued to grow by targeting mainly North Indian migrants in the name of “Maharashtra Dharma”. Yet, each time he crosses a limit, nothing much happens. He gets away with it. Until he is ready to launch another agitation .

It is assumed that the police will be non-partisan when they act in the name of the law. Yet, past experience has shown us that this is not always the case. The most telling example of that was the 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai when their partisan role was noted by the Srikrishna Commission. One of the principal factors that reinforced existing biases before, during and after the riots was the kind of vituperative writing that the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna carried every day. The paper has a vast readership in the police force. Day after day, they were fed with a diet of bias and venom, principally against Muslims.

Today, Raj Thackeray does not need a newspaper. His utterances are reported in the media, the actions of his cadre are shown repeatedly on television and in a short period he has become larger than life. And just as the Maharashtra government hesitated to take any action against his uncle Bal Thackeray for fear that there would be a strong reaction leading to a law and order situation in Mumbai, the current Maharashtra government seems to be in a state of paralysis. The lessons of the past have clearly not been learned.

What Raj Thackeray has said and written might not fall strictly within a particular provision of the law — although according to a senior retired police official it does, under Section 3 of the Police (incitement to disaffection) Act 1922. But he has violated the spirit of the Constitution that guarantees equality before the law. The police are bound to act against anyone breaking the law. By appealing to the local police on the basis of their Marathi identity and by persuading them to be partial, Thackeray is directly undermining the basis of a non-partisan law-enforcing machinery. Inaction by the Government today will seriously erode its ability to maintain any kind of order and peace in the future in the face of the frightening growth of such xenophobic politics.

The writer is an independent journalist and columnist based in Mumbai

Right wing's Marathi agenda: After Sign Boards ist Cable TV now

MNS trains guns on cable operators

Sanjeev Shivadekar,TNN
Times of India,28 Aug 2008, 0605 hrs IST

MUMBAI : Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray seems to have found a new issue to further his Marathi agenda. The MNS leader has now directed cable operators in the state to prominently telecast Marathi news channels and shows, especially 'Saam' , a newly launched Marathi news channel owned by Sharad Pawar's nephew Abhijeet Pawar.

Raj told TOI that he has given cable operators two days' time to change their approach towards Marathi. "If they fail to do so, our party will deal them in the style we are known for,'' he threatened. "Even if the offender happens to be a Marathi, he will not be spared by our party.'' he added.

Interestingly, the threat comes a day after the MNS chief met managing director of Sakaal group, Abhijeet, on Tuesday. The six-hour-long marathon meeting was held at Raj Thackeray's residence in Dadar.

Like the meeting between Bal Thackeray and Sharad Pawar sometime ago, this meeting too raised speculation in political circles.

When contacted, Abhijeet Pawar said it was a personal meeting and would not like to reveal anything to media. However, Raj Thackeray said, "The channel is owned by a Marathi-speaking family and I will extend all my support to a Marathi entrepreneur who has abilities similar to media baron Rupert Murdoch."

One of the prominent cable operators in the city, Ganesh Naidu was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has directed police officials to take stern action against people vandalising shops for not having put up Marathi signboards . "It is Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations's job to ensure that the rules (on signboards) are followed. No party has been entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing the law. Those not following the rules as well as those running riot will be dealt with strictly,'' he said.

flourishing xenophobia in the subcontinental soil of bigotry

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

Hate-based politics

Frontline
Mar. 01-14, 2008

PRAFUL BIDWAI

Only forging a firmly pluralist notion of Indianness and defending fundamental freedoms can combat the ultra-chauvinist politics of the Raj Thackeray variety.

THE arrest of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for inciting ethnic violence against Mumbai’s migrants and his speedy release on bail constitute yet another instance of the Indian state bestowing impunity upon the practitioners of hate-based politics. The irony is all the more sour because Thackeray was arrested on a non-bailable offence, which carries imprisonment for up to three years, but was let off within three hours. The government did not co ntest his bail application even as MNS thugs were beating up north Indian vegetable vendors and taxi drivers for being “disloyal” to Maharashtra, its language and culture.

This episode may only have pumped oxygen into the MNS, a marginal party that has failed to make a mark since its inception two years ago. But that is not the sole tragedy unfolding before our eyes amidst the fleeing of nearly 10,000 people of north Indian origin from Nashik, Pune, Mumbai and other cities.

The recent events underscore yet again the persistent failure of the Maharashtra government to muster the will to punish hate speeches directed at “outsiders” and religious minorities. The failure first became glaring way back in 1966 when the MNS’ predecessor, the Shiv Sena, was created amidst the explosive nativist and xenophobic violence orchestrated by Bal Thackeray.

For decades, the Sena inflicted countless atrocities and iniquities upon Mumbai and its citizens by attacking trade unionists, Muslims and non-Marathi-speaking groups. But it was never punished or effectively restrained. Even in the worst instance of Sena-organised communal violence, following the Babri Masjid demolition of December 1992, the government refused to act on irrefutable evidence against Bal Thackeray. This includes nine “open-and-shut” cases against him for inflammatory writing through which he virtually directed the anti-Muslim riots that led to 1,500 killings.

Despite solemn promises, the Vilasrao Deshmukh government has failed to implement the Srikrishna Commission report, which recommends the prosecution of the culprits of the violence. Going by an affidavit the government filed in January in the Supreme Court, it has decided not to reopen the 1,371 cases pertaining to that campaign of murder, arson and looting. It would be surprising if it treats Raj Thackeray any differently and prosecutes him thoroughly.

It arrested him only under pressure from the Congress party’s top leadership. To appear “even-handed”, it filed identical charges against Samajwadi Party (S.P.) leader Abu Azmi – although what the two men did was different. Raj Thackeray not only launched vicious tirades against north Indians, he incited/engineered physical attacks on them. Azmi merely issued statements.

As if this were not sordid enough, not a single major leader of Maharashtra – from Deshmukh to the Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar, from State Congress chief Prabha Rau to Home Minister R.R. Patil – has condemned Raj Thackeray’s campaign of crass chauvinism or his goon tactics. They have not uttered a word against the intimidation and beating up of scores of working people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They have been silent on the MNS’ glorification of all that is Marathi and its nauseating condemnation of the culture of the north. Although the progressive and secular intelligentsia has spoken out, the politicians’ silence is revealing.

The top leadership of the United Progressive Alliance too has chosen to refrain from deploring the MNS’ hate campaign. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken to frequent exhortations to crush and eradicate “the virus” of “left extremism” (naxalites). But not once has he spoken in a similar vein against right extremism, which has caused far greater destruction to this society and posed a much more virulent challenge to its constitutional-democratic order. Leave alone “crush” the forces of vicious nativism and xenophobia such as the MNS and Shiv Sena, Manmohan Singh does not even talk of restraining, discouraging or combating them. About his expression of solidarity with the terrorised victims of the recent hate campaign, the less said the better.

This is creating a peculiar polarisation along narrow ethnic-linguistic lines. Thus, it is left to the maverick Amar Singh to defend the people of Uttar Pradesh against the MNS. And it falls to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad to come to the rescue of Biharis in Mumbai. He even threatened to hold the Bihari festival of Chhat Puja – which Raj Thackeray cited as an instance of the undesirable, growing “outsider” influence – right outside Raj Thackeray’s house in Mumbai!

Such polarisation does not speak of a decent, mature political leadership nor, more importantly, of a tolerant, democratic and inclusive social ethos. If our leaders and state institutions cannot even defend the fundamental right of all Indians to live and work in any part of the country, we are in trouble. At peril is the idea of the citizen’s identification with, and ownership of, democracy itself.
Meagre response

Three factors might explain the tepid or meagre response to the Maharashtra events from secular liberals and defenders of constitutional values.

First, many believe that Raj Thackeray resorted to a cynical, probably counterproductive, tactic by embracing the ultra-chauvinist platform and that people will see through this crude political move and its link with the coming Assembly elections.

Second, anti-migrant slogans “won’t sell”. The proportion of migrants in Mumbai’s population has fallen, and the locals do not see them as a threat, unlike in the 1960s and 1970s.

Third, some argue, the appeal of cultural symbols is eclipsed by material realities. Mumbai’s economic boom and emergence as a financial centre ensure that people’s attention cannot be commanded by rank chauvinism.

There is merit in these arguments. But that cannot detract from the responsibility to proactively fight chauvinism. True, Raj Thackeray has his eye on the delimitation process, which will raise the weight of constituencies in Mumbai’s north-eastern suburbs and Thane, where the north Indian presence is strong. Recently, the Shiv Sena joined the S.P. and the Bahujan Samaj Party in wooing this group and became an easy target for Raj Thackeray, who has been in search of an emotive issue to revive his party.

This may not win him many votes, but it will trigger chauvinist competition with the Sena and put the anti-immigrant plank back on the agenda – with dangerous consequences.

Moreover, the proportion of migrants in Mumbai’s population sharply declined from 66 per cent in 1961 to 43 per cent in 2001. The proportion of migrants from within Maharashtra fell from 27 per cent to 16 per cent and of those from other States from 34 per cent to 26 per cent. Particularly sharp was the decline among migrants from the south, down from 10 per cent to 6 per cent.

However, the proportion of migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar rose one and a half times although its magnitude is still very low: 12 per cent. These largely rural, unskilled and poor people work in highly labour-intensive and low-paid occupations such as delivering newspapers and milk, vending vegetables and fish, or carrying heavy loads. Many old settlers refuse such work. Without its northern migrants, Mumbai would grind to a halt. They have done much to assimilate into Mumbai’s hybrid culture despite their language problem.

But the picture is different in other cities of Maharashtra, where the proportion of migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has more than doubled in 20 years. Their greater visibility can be used to whip up xenophobic hysteria. For instance, a poll conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi, in 2004 found that 37 per cent of the State’s people feel that migrants take away job opportunities and 16 per cent say migrants affect both culture and job chances.

Maharashtra’s growth is non-inclusive and inequality-enhancing. Unemployment runs there at 15 million, in a population of 100 million. Fifty-four per cent of the unemployed resent migrants. This provides a fertile ground for hate-driven politics.
Marathi chauvinism

The strength of Marathi chauvinism must not be underestimated. The Sena cynically exploited the Shivaji cult and the rancour among a section of Maharashtrians at the fact that their struggle for a unified Maharashtra succeeded politically but they remained “subalterns” economically: Mumbai, the “jewel in the crown”, was not “Marathi enough”; its economic levers were controlled by Gujarati and Marwari businessmen. This resentment was mobilised to attack underprivileged working-class south Indians active in Mumbai’s once vibrant trade union movement.

The Sena succeeded in rolling back many of the social gains Maharashtra made through its social reform movement and embrace of Enlightenment values, including reason, liberty, equality and tolerance. Some of these came from the one-and-a-half-century-long legacy of Shahu Maharaj, Jyotirao Phule and B.R. Ambedkar. Under the Sena, Mumbai became a city of prejudice and hatred, fear and loathing, character assassination, and lynching of innocents.

It will be impossible to combat this xenophobic chauvinism without campaigning for a pluralist notion of Indianness based on a multilingual, multicultural identity, defending basic constitutional freedoms, including the rights of residence and work, and advocating a passionate egalitarianism. This alone can counter the parochial ideas of an insular, insecure, lumpenised middle class, with its inferiority complex and propensity to blame “outsiders” for its own shortcomings. Regrettably, that combination is not on the horizon.

Nativist Chauvinism not just in Bombay

(The Times of India - 15 March, 2007)

EDITORIAL: Urban Ideas

Mumbai's Biharis are central to Raj Thackeray's political imagination. They offer him an excuse to espouse an agenda of political chauvinism.

Raj's recent outburst that Biharis living in Mumbai should learn to respect Marathis or get ready to be slapped is a ploy to shore up the declining political fortunes of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, a political offshoot of the Shiv Sena that he founded.

It was left to Shatrughan Sinha, BJP leader and fellow saffronite, to state the obvious: that every Indian is free to live in any part of the country.

The Bihar assembly also adopted a resolution censuring Raj Thackeray's statements. Raj seems to think that the only way to make himself politically relevant is to move further right of the Sena.

Indeed, there is always a small constituency willing to support chauvinist agendas. Unfortunately, even mainstream political outfits are not immune to its attraction.

And, Mumbai is not the only city where such politics thrives. Linguistic and ethnic chauvinisms pose a threat to the cosmopolitan core of cities like Bangalore and Chennai.

The Cauvery River, for example, can be a cause for breakdown of civic life in Bangalore.

UPA allies slugging it out in Parliament over essentially regional interests — which state gets to have a maritime university — is another case in point.

The situation is worse in states like Assam, Manipur and Nagaland where ethnicity and language are matters of life and death.