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i is paying the price. This is one score that’s just
not getting settled and this latest episode of sibling rivalry threatens
to reopen old wounds that this city has worked hard to heal over the
years. What’s appalling is the ease with which the duo has invented a
cause and is holding the city to ransom, brazenly flirting with danger.
After
the violent acts at Azad Maidan on August 11, the city police not only
did a good job of containing the riots within hours, it took preventive
measures to nip the situation in the bud and ensure that it did not blow
up the next day. Police commissioner Arup Patnaik came out on the
streets, led his forces from the front, booked the wrongdoers and
brought the culprits to book, all the while ensuring that the city
remained peaceful. Far from patting the back of the top cop for an
exemplary job, the two Thackeray brothers stayed holed up in their dens
for more than a week, looking for an opportunity to capitalise on the
Azad Maidan incident. Peace suits the likes of Anna Hazare; for the
tigers and their cubs in the cadre, nothing’s as galvanising as a round
of riots. Even the two victims of the violence were Muslims, offering no
scope to give a communal slant to the deaths.
So after much
thinking, both the siblings came up with the same half-baked
justification for a round of jingoism. The older cousin came out to pay
homage to the restored Martyrs’ Memorial near Azad Maidan and demanded
the heads of Patnaik and home minister Patil for not safeguarding the
respect of the city’s policemen. Thankfully, there was neither any
mention of a non-Maharashtrian leading the largely Maharashtrian police
force nor of the largely-Hindu police force bearing the brunt of
violence by Muslim agitators. And then later in the day, the younger
cousin, while announcing his rally to protest the government and
police’s failure, made it a point to mention that the
politically-controlled police was soft on the Muslim rioters, unlike the
hard stance it adopts against his Hindu boys who protest for ‘just’
causes.
What’s worse than the blatant provocation by the leaders of
Mumbai’s two mainstream parties is the effect it has on their thousands
of charged followers. The MNS rally may be a show of strength, another
effort to woo the Hindu-Marathi constituency, but the manner of its
doing is threatening; the consequences would be far-reaching. Communal
riots have done enough damage to the fabric of this city in the past,
and the two cousins would do well to restrict their games of
one-upmanship to spheres less dangerous – and probably more rewarding.
It’s one thing to quell the mischief of faceless miscreants at Azad
Maidan and another to contain the menace inflicted by purported
guardians – and rulers — of the city. This is one challenge Arup Patnaik
can do without!
From Bhoomiputra to Hindutva
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Taking a step forward in his political career spanning
six years, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on
Tuesday expanded his political plank from bhoomiputra (son of the soil)
to Hindutva.
The marked shift is a clear indication that Thackeray
is exploiting the political space of Shiv Sena and BJP, which sensed the
unrest within the people following the Azad Maidan riot, but were
reluctant to take to the streets on such a massive scale.
Thus, by
adopting the tried and tested Sena formula of Hindutva and taking to the
streets, he has sent a strong message that MNS is a political force to
reckon with in Mumbai.
“The rally displayed Raj’s sense of picking
the right issue at the right time,” admitted Vinod Tawde, leader of
opposition in the state legislative council. “While the BJP kept its
attack on the functioning of the home department, Raj’s decision to take
to the streets would certainly uplift the morale of the police force,
which has been at the receiving end.”
While Congress and NCP leaders
dismissed Thackeray for indulging in “political opportunism”, they are
not discounting the unrest within the people following the Azad Maidan
violence.
“There cannot be any compromise on communal harmony in Mumbai,” chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said.
Besides,
the MNS has also taken a conscious decision to prioritise the agenda of
illegal Bangladeshis in Mumbai and the rest of the state, which has
been an issue high on the BJP and Sena political manifestos since the
1990s.
Political managers in Shiv Sena have indicated that the MNS
trying to hijack the Sena’s Hindutva agenda was “farfetched”, adding
that Bal Thackeray still remained the “Hindu hriday samrat.” Posters
depicting Bal Thackeray as the “only tiger” (Ekach wagh) along with
images of him holding a sword indicated Sena’s attempt to hold on to its
turf.
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Raj puts up a Maha show
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Claims Bangla hand in Azad Maidan riot
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Wants Patnaik and RR’s heads to roll
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Says his morcha has no Hindutva link
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“Arup Patnaik must resign, RR Patil must resign...If they have some
shame left, they must themselves resign.” As Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
chief Raj Thackeray reiterated his demand on Tuesday, the 43,000-plus
crowd gathered at Azad Maidan roared in support.
He also alleged that
violence on August 11 at the Azad Maidan had links to anti-national
elements from Bangladesh. “Those who came here [the rioters] were not
related to Maharashtra. They were from outside Maharashtra,” said
Thackeray, holding up a Bangladeshi passport which he claimed was found
on the ground after the riots.
Thackeray led a rally from Girgaum
Chowpatty to Azad Maidan without police permission to protest against
the recent Azad Maidan violence and demand the resignations of the
police commissioner and state home minister.
Pointing out that it was
a single entry passport, Thackeray dramatically threw it from the dais
and claimed that Maharashtra has become a “den” for such anti-national
elements from Pakistan and Bangladesh who enter the country via northern
states such as Uttar Pradesh. This, he alleged, had led to a flare-up
in Mumbai after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.
The MNS chief
denied that his morcha against the rioters from the minority community
signified that his politics was taking on Hindutva hues. “Raj Thackeray
understands only one religion — Maharashtra dharma. I do not understand
any religion other than that.”
He further claimed that the recent
riots in Uttar Pradesh were also engineered by the same people and
questioned why Dalit leaders, like Mayawati, Ramdas Athavale and Prakash
Ambedkar, were silent despite the desecration of a Buddha idol.
Accusing
Patnaik of creating hurdles in the August 11 rally and Patil for his
inaction though the rioters attacked policemen, he said: “The police
must never be attacked. If the morale of the police is shattered, where
will the common man go?”
He alleged that Patnaik had abused a senior
official for nabbing a rioter, but at the same time woman constables
were molested and Maharashtrian policemen were thrashed.
On August
11, Raza Academy and groups belonging to the Barelvi sect organised a
rally there to denounce violence against Muslims in Myanmar and Assam.
But
the rally was disturbed by a group of men who went on the rampage,
torching OB vans, damaging vehicles, looting police weapons and
molesting policewomen. Two people were killed in firing while several,
including policemen, were injured.
Thackeray claimed that the
police had information of a mob coming to the open ground with weapons
and pointed out that the Raza Academy had a history of violence in their
morchas.
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