This is being written in the wake of the recent
attacks on multiplexes by MNS goons.
Chatrpati Shivaji was
not just a Maratha king. He represented the hopes and aspirations of
the whole nation that was subjected to the oppressive religious bigotry
of the worst kind under the Delhi Sultanate. Great north Indian
poets like Mahakavi Bhushan wrote paeans to Sarja Shivaji and his poems
continue to inspire nationalistic fervour even today in the minds and
hearts of young Indians across the country.
Today, this grand legacy is being
sacrificed at the altar of vote bank politics and the Mumbai film
industry is unwittingly caught in this maelstrom. It has become
a convenient whipping boy and is being used to further the political
aims and ambitions of a few. It is a distressing and shocking state of
affairs.
The role of the ruling establishment
in Maharashtra, in whatever has happened here in the past few years and
is still happening, can only be described as despicable. It is
following a simple three-pronged political strategy.
1. The Shiv Sena votes must be divided and Raj
Thakare and MNS should be encouraged and supported to achieve this end.
2. The chasm between the north Indians living in
Maharashtra and the Marathi manoos should be further widened and
deepened to ensure the automatic polarisation of the North indian
voters in
favour of the Congres.
3. Decimation of Shiv Sena will also help
consolidate Muslim votes in its favour since Bal Thakare is their Enemy
No. 2, next only to Narendra Modi.
Sadly, this stratagem
has served the objectives of the ruling class
quite well, largely thanks to the politically naive Marathi youth and
lumpen who, as MNS members,
feel empowered when a poor road-side hawker, or a trader,
cowers before them in fear and readily pays the Shiv Jayanti
'chanda' and does their bidding. In spite of the claims to the
contrary, the collusion
of the Congress government with MNS miscreants and lumpen is an obvious
fact. What is much more shocking and surprising is its selective use of
the law and order machinery and justice delivery system to
execute such devious political designs.
Let us look at an example. When
the lumpen elements, egged on by Raj Thakare, openly targeted the north
Indian taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers and poor hawkers on Mumbai
streets, the police looked the other way and treated it as a minor
issue. Later, the Bachhan Family was targeted over a few harmless and
legitimate remarks of Jaya Bachhan. The Maharashtra police instead of
taking action against those who were putting up banners with filthy
slogans and openly threatening the Bacchans, initiated a
counter-investigation to fix up Jaya Bacchhan's culpability in
provoking the lumpen into reacting the way they did.
Now, compare this with the way the
same Maharashtra government reacted when My Name Is Khan controversy
broke out. SRK is a north Indian too and he was being targeted
by Shiv Sena for his personal views about the non inclusion of
Pakistani cricketers in the IPL and for asserting that Mumbai was for
all Indians. Incidentally, and
interestingly, Raj Thakare had attacked Jaya Bachhan for similar
remarks. He, however, kept mum this time. The ruling class and
the Maharashtra police swung into unprecedented action to ensure the
successful release of his film across Maharashtra and in Mumbai.
What was the real reason behind such discriminatory and contrasting response of the government in these cases? It is the surnames and that made all the difference. SRK was supported and defended because doing so would help the ruling dispensation further consolidate its Muslim vote bank, which has become the key to success in today's electoral politics. On the other hand, the Bachhans were left to fend for themselves against the strong-arms tactics and open threats and blackmail of the MNS goons who are being encouraged and supported as part of the political strategy of the Congress party aimed at creating fissures in the Marathi body politic.
