Migrant Issues or Goonda Conundrum?

In India, most political parties are increasingly resorting to violence to make their point heard. Which means that subtly over a period of time this political violence will permeate to all other sections of the society.

While the country’s first moon mission was being launched in southern India with great pride and international acclaim, hordes of angry rioters were burning buses in Bihar, protesting against anti-Bihari migrant violence that had been incited by a regional politician in Mumbai. Achievement on the moon mission was measured in terms of scientific excellence: in Mumbai and Bihar it was by measured by riots and death.

The Raj Thackeray’s episode has been rankling for the last few months now. The governments, both central and state, are doing precious little to address the fissures Raj is so hell bent upon on creating. The decisiveness of those who matter is again conspicuous only by its absence.

The trouble started at the weekend when Raj Thackeray, leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), attacked people from Bihar who were applying in Mumbai for Indian Railways jobs. There have been many past attacks on Mumbai taxi drivers and other workers from north India, and the weekend’s assaults led to four days of strikes, shop and school-shutdowns, violence and deaths in both Maharashtra and Bihar.

This unsavoury and unethical game of whipping up the regional sentiment for one’s personal gain, without regard of the effect it may have on the integrity of the whole nation. Maharashtra has always been a very important part of the India. This polarizing of communities is not going to help anyone but provide Raj Thackeray his temporary political gains.

Raj Thackeray broke from his uncle and set up his rival group because he feared he would be eclipsed by Bal Thackeray’s son when Thackeray, who is now old and frail, faded from the political scene. The word now is that Delhi is considering whether Raj Thackeray should be stopped. It is trying to persuade Maharashtra’s Congress and NCP-led coalition government to jail him for months, in the hope that this would reduce his power and will to fight. Acting somewhat reluctantly on instructions from Delhi, the state government on Wednesday filed 54 legal cases against him on grounds of inciting riots and action prejudicial to national integration, and briefly arrested him. How ironic that politicians who tolerated such illegal activities when it suited them, should now initiate legal action – ironic, but not surprising in politics.

On the flip side, the polarizing effect in other parts can also be witnessed. The indications coming out of Jharkhand and how they are now ready to target Marathis, is clear indications that things have come to a head. Even though Marathis had nothing to do with it.

For all his talk about being true to the Maharashtrian way of life, Raj Thackeray seems to have a big problem using ‘Indian style’ loos. The MNS chief spent an uneasy night at Dombivli police lock-up on Tuesday night, swatting mosquitoes due to the load shedding, fielding questions from chatty cops and holding his nose against the all-pervading stink. And the next morning, Raj absolutely refused to use the police station loo because it was ‘Indian style’. When the cops said they couldn’t provide him with an alternative, Thackeray chose to remain constipated all day rather than use the Indian loo.

Lets not confuse the issues. Raj Thackeray is not a visionary; if anything he just has the next elections in his sights and a vision to overturn Shiv Sena and his cousin Uddhav Thackeray.  He does not even fall in the category of “one man’s terrorist, another man’s revolutionary”. He should be held accountable for any deaths resulting from his “rule of the sword” politics and inducing violence.

In the age, where India is already dealing with region and religion based terrorism across the country, we do not need the most important state in India to become embroiled in regional violence.