Who is the script writer of the theatre of the absurd in Maharashtra?

Is it not obvious? Raj Thakare is merely a puppet. He dances to the tune of his protectors and sponsors. This dummy candidate has served the purpose of his masters and the curtains had to drop now. Look at how mild-mannered he has suddenly become. It is not because of the fear of his arrest. He has been told to shut up and bring the temperature down. He was all civility personified in his press conference on 31st October where he purveyed idiotic lies and bullshit in the defense of the indefensible. I have never seen a political leader with such a low IQ who didn't even know that Marathi is written in Devnagari script.

However, it was a heinous thing to do to use commoners as dispensable fodder to bolster a pedestrian politician and create a regional divide in the Hindu body politic. The divisive politics of the Congress party has never been so blatantly reprehensible and dangerous.

I have realized that to condemn MNS goons and their mentally retarded leader will be foolish. It is the UPA government in general and the Congress and Pawar’s NCP in particular who are responsible for the death of innocent civilians and loss of their livelihood, property, and most importantly their honour. They are the real producers of the whole drama that has been unfolding in the last few years.

They egged Raj Thakare on to come out of the Shiv Sena. He too was eager to do it. He had seen that his uncle was dying and would never hand over the reins of SS to him. He quit in anticipation of Bal Thakare’s impending death. Even today, all MNS leaders, including Raj, pray everyday to Lord Ganesha to send Bal Thakare on his heavenly journey so that they can wean away all the Sena supporters and lay claim to his legacy. 

If one recalls, at the time of the formation of the Maharashtra Navnirmaan Sena (MNS), one had seen a sober and sophisticated version of the guy who even impressed the likes of Mahesh Bhatt. His party flag included all possible colours in the world to project an inclusive and secular image.  However, such high philosophy did not suit the NCP-Congress alliance’s game plan. Why would they need a sober and secular political outfit to compete with them for their traditional vote bank? The whole purpose of luring him out of the Sena fold would have been defeated if he had continued on his constructive ‘navniraman’ course. He was supposed to divide the Sena votes and wean away the hot-headed lumpen among the Shiv Sainiks.  

Shiv Sena successfully used the ‘Mumbai for Marathis’ card in the last BMC elections and that is when the MNS leader was advised to change tracks if he wanted to wrest control of the Shiv Sena politics and legacy. He was also promised all possible support from the ruling combine. He was encouraged to adopt typical Shiv Sena tactics, if he wanted to survive in Maharashtra politics, by the NCP, the Congress, the Samajvadi Party (SP), and others who wanted to see the demise of the Shiv Sena. The idiot took the fratricidal bait willingly. He had expected the Sena to wither away and it had not happened. His cousin was one up on him, after having steered the Sena to victory in a prestigious local election.

If you recall, it started with a Samajwadi Party (SP) rally at Shivaji Park, Mumbai. Though it looked like a sudden development, it was obviously not the case. The SP rally was merely an excuse to execute the new strategy. Was SP a part of the plot? I am certain it was and still is.

Why do I say this? The SP leadership in the state of Maharashtra mainly consists of Muslim leaders like Abu Aazami. The bureau-pathological aversion of this community to Bal Thakare is also well-known. There are four hate figures that keep exercising the minds of the secularists, the Islamists, and the padres in India - Modi, Advani, Bal Thakare, and Togadia. In the initial outburst of wanton violence against taxi and auto-drivers, roadside vendors, and railway commuters, one could notice a few Muslim victims as well. However, Aazami as well as the Muslim community largely ignored these incidents. They ensured that it remained a Marathi Manoos vs. North Indian and Bihari issue. Now, a significant percentage of North Indians of Mumbai are Muslims and they are obviously better organized and networked than North Indian Hindus. In all other circumstances, they would have protested strongly, and violently. Bhiwandi, Malegaon, and Mohammed Ali Road would have been up in flames in retaliation. Strangely, they were largely spared the MNS onslaught. It was a strategic decision on the part of the community to stay aloof.

Now, look at the response of other secularists to what is happening. It is non-existent. Not a single secularist, the so-called conscience-keepers of the nation, has really come out against the violent acts of the MNS goons. They did not even come to the defence of Jaya Bachhan when she was hounded  by MNS goons for speaking in Hindi in a public function. Why? Evidently they are in collusion with those who have scripted and are executing the grand strategy. Similarly, the Church-controlled media is deliberately fanning the fire and has done everything in its power to prop up Raj Thakare as a Marathi icon. Even the fiery fulminations of leaders like Lalu, Mulayam, Amar Singh, Paswan, and issuance of all kinds of fake advisories by the Sonia government to her own Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh are part of the pre-scripted plot. They did not want the violence to end till Raj Thakare was established as a legitimate heir to Bal Thakare. If it did, they would have had a flop show on hand without any electoral pay-off.

Maharashtra politicians of today are not an ideology-driven lot. They are businessmen. You can always strike a deal with them if you have money. They can even sell their mothers for money. All their actions or inactions are about securing a hefty monetary deal for themselves. They need money to gain political power because without it they will be nobodies. Most of them are an intellectually deficient lot, including the Pawars, the Thakares, the Deshmukhs, the Ranes, and the Bhujbals. You cannot engage them in a healthy political discourse. They know that political power comes out of nurturing a band of mercenary followers and ideology leads you nowhere. They have seen the fate of ideology-driven socialists, and communists.

This indicates that Raj Thakare is not going to turn into another Bhindaranwala. The guy who cannot shit in an old-fashioned latrine of a police station, and needs soft tissue paper to wipe his ass, is certainly not fit enough to be an ideology-driven political activist. A serious political activist looks forward to an opportunity to be incarcerated since it gives him a chance to devise his political strategy in the peaceful confines of a jail barrack. Even the MNS goons would not like to go to jail for their leader. They won’t dare to come out on streets without the reassurance of the ruling elite that the police will not go beyond a point to contain them.

The angry outburst witnessed during the professionally choreographed arrest drama of Raj Thakare was also a planned exercise. Even the appointment of a highly successful defense lawyer like Majid Memon as the public prosecutor was part of this design. The Maharashtra government was putting up a facade that it was acting tough with Raj Thakare. The deliberately extended theatre of the absurd of presenting him in various courts to secure bail was a bizarre spectacle.

The rank corrupt Maharashtra police was now playing the political game of its masters. What are its credentials? It has the distinction of having among its ranks the largest number of top cops in the world who are cooling their heels behind bars for their acts of grave omission and commission. It is also known to let big fish out of its nets for pecuniary considerations. It flexes its muscle against small fry only. It is a police force that works hard only for its ‘hafta’.

The cold-blooded murder of Rahul Raj for brandishing a ‘Katta*’ in a BEST bus is a good example of how the Maharashtra police works. In the states of UP and Bihar, they control such belligerent kids by catching them by the scruff of their neck and giving them a hard shake and a tight slap. But Rahul Raj was killed for brandishing a katta by a big posse of policemen. Who killed him? A corrupt police officer, known for his collusion in a big scam. R.R. Patil’s reaction to the killing was another revelation. Gone was his ‘hakalana’ and stammering before the media when faced with questions that showed his ineptness in handling the MNS goondagardi. He almost gave an enthusiastic war cry this time.

One thing is clear. Our political parties fear the unity of Hindus. They must divide this huge mass into regional and caste groups to succeed. Ipso facto, they don’t want India’s cultural unity to be emphasized. Now, our cultural unity is the key to our holistic growth as a society. A united Hindu body politic will ensure the end of negativity. It will make us think of real issues. It will throw up leaders with real solutions to these real issues. It will help us focus on the core task of nation building and will release an energy that will wipe out the scourge of poverty, pestilence, and transform this nation into a beacon of hope for the rest of the world.

We have the ideas and the potential to do it. What we need is good honest people at the helm who care for this nation and not merely for their vote banks. We need leaders who seek power because it gives them an opportunity to bring their great nation-building ideas and programmes into play. We need leaders who can transform our bureaucracy. We need leaders who share the trials and tribulations of every Indian and who work diligently to wipe off the tears of every Indian -- man, woman, and child. We need leaders who encourage the truly talented and inspire us to achieve greatness.

However, we must do first things first. We must get rid of the UPA government. It is a government of white liars and cheats and pimps and political fixers. It works for itself. It does not care for our nation. It has done everything to compromise our national interests and sovereignty. It is a stooge of foreign powers. Its economic and foreign policies are designed to serve the hidden agenda of its guiding lights in Washington, and Rome.


*A single or double barrel shot gun with sawed-off barrel. That is why the name Katta. It can generally fire only one round at a time, with nil precision, and needs to be reloaded for the second round.

 
RKS