POLITICS OF VIOLENCE & HATE

Act 1: MNS MLA’s beat Abu Azmi, Samajwadi Party MLA in the Maharashtra assembly
Reason: For taking oath in Hindi and supposedly insulting the pride of ‘Marathi Manoos’

Act 2: Bal Thackarey warns Sachin Tendulkar in Shiv Sena’s mouth piece ‘Saamna’
Reason: For Sachin considering himself an Indian first instead of a Maharashtrian

Act 3: Shiv Sena goons vandalize IBN office (News Channel) & attack journalists
Reason: For showing true stories of Bal Thackarey’s politics

All the above incidents underline the chilling reality that haunts Maharashtra politics; Politics of Violence

Bal Thackarey has built his political career on the premise of violence & hate for over four decades. It began in the 60’s when he spearheaded the hate campaign against south Indians in Maharashtra. But the real rise of Thackarey was seen in the 90’s when he incited his party workers to kill Muslims in the aftermath of the Babri Mosque demolition. Sadly his party, the Shiv Sena along with ally BJP captured power for the first time in Maharashtra in 1995. This was the first election in the state after the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992-93 and the 1993 Bombay blast. Known for his controversial politics, Thackarey has through out his political career not only spoken against Muslims, north Indian & south Indian but also appreciated the acts of violence carried out by his party workers.

Following his foot steps is his estranged nephew Raj Thackarey, the supremo of MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena). Raj might have drifted away from his uncle and started his own separate political outfit, but when it comes to violent methods the nephew has surely made his uncle proud. From 2006 onwards Raj’s MNS workers have constantly attacked north Indians (U.Ps & Biharis). And now with his goons also entering the Maharashtra Assembly and demonstrating on the very first day their idea of politics, things do not look any better

The only silver lining has been voters’ rejection of Bal Thackeray’s brand of politics. That is precisely the reason for senior Thackeray’s frustration. Both uncle and nephew are now fighting for the common cause and stooping down to reprehensible violent methods to endorse their ideology. Bal Thackeray is at the fag end of his political journey. All this while he hoped that his son and executive-president of Shiv Sena, Uddav Thackeray would carry forward his legacy. But Uddhav lacked Thackeray Snr charisma which gave his cousin Raj the perfect opportunity to tap.

The biggest factor for the rise of the Thackeray’s is with out any element of doubt the Congress. From the 70’s till date Congress which was always in power deliberately ignored the ring leaders who have led and spearheaded hate campaigns against different communities. Throughout the Congress has acted as a mute spectator.
Come 2006, Raj Thackeray’s MNS restored to the same violent methods The Congress led government remained a mute spectator again. It was only when the situation got out of hand completely and after much criticism not only from different parts of the country but international media did the government arrest Raj. But the Congress eventually succeeded in its goal. By letting Raj grow into a monster it was able to divide the Marathi vote which directly benefited the Congress. Thanks to Raj, Congress-NCP combine is back in power. Today both Shiv Sena and the MNS have the audacity to attack anyone, anywhere in Maharashtra. It doesn’t matter whether you are a student or a taxi driver or a journalist or a corporate worker or a common man. It is all about intimidation and cheap publicity at any cost. So what if Shiv Sena’s influence is eroding? Bal Thackeray still considers himself a tiger against no one can speak but mind you, he can speak against anyone like a dictator. Similarly Raj with just 12% of the vote share holds the right to beat any north Indian for not knowing Marathi or rather not respecting Marathi pride. So is the Congress going to stop them? To kill one monster it has to let the other one grow into an even bigger one!!

Unfortunately, Maharashtra is slowly becoming synonymous with the Thackareys; thanks to their ‘hate’ politics. This state has given India stalwarts from different walks of life. From cricketers like Gavaskar & Tendulkar to artists like Lata Mangeshkar & Madhuri Dixit to social actvists like Medha Patkar, Anna Hazare & Baba Apte to army General Arun Shridhar Vaidya. It’s a sad irony that the man who empowered every Indian with the freedom to speak in any language, follow any religion & work in any region was also a Maharashtrian. That man was none other than the architect of the Indian constitution- Babasaheb Ambedkar.

DEMOCRACY UNDER ATTACK?

Indian National Congress is on a roll. Congress registered thumping victories in Maharashtra (with ally NCP), Arunachal Pradesh & though it fell short of a majority in Haryana but still managed enough to retain power. But unlike any normal election victory which is bundled with euphoria & celebrations, these latest election results have delivered an appaling message…The vibrant democracy is now getting reduced to an unhealthy boring democracy for reasons more than one.

The Rise of One Party Rule- It began with the Lok Sabha election results in May this year, when the Congress led UPA won a 2nd consecutive term with enhanced political mandate. This was the first time in 30 years that any alliance got a 2nd term on completion of its 5 year term. But more then UPA’s astouding victory the highlight of this election was the depleted ‘Opposition’. The principal opposition BJP lost even more seats in the parliament, while the Left parties fell to the 5th postion with an abysmal 20 seats. The new parliament is turning out to be an open playground for the UPA with the opposition seated clueless with no idea on how to counter the policies of the current government. With the Congress coming back to power in all the 3 states, it is now holds power in 15 states (in some states with allies). The writing is on the wall- NEED A POTENT, UNITED OPPOSITION TO BALANCE THE DEMOCRATIC ACT.

Bad governnace rewarded- The state of Maharashtra epitomises this issue in the best fashion. The Congress- NCP combine is back in power for the 3rd consecutive time. Congress- NCP government’s performance has proabably been one of the worst that any state would have witnessed in the last 10 years. Farmer suicide is going up, power shortage is at its peak, infrastructure development is slowest in the whole country, water shortage is increasing, and the security situation is detoriating coninuously. In the last ten years Mumbai alone witnessed 6 terror attacks.Since 2005, every year during monsoons, Mumbai gets flooded leaving the city reeling under water .Raj Thakarey’s MNS workers have openly attacked north Indians while the government stood silently instead of taking any swift action taken against him ( For obvious political reasons). With this kind of a performance if a party/ alliance still manages to win a 3rd term, then there has to be something miserably wrong with the opposition (BJP-Shiv Sena) , that the people of the state are dreading to give them a second chance.

Urban voting percentage emaciating- During the recent Assembly elections the turn out in Mumbai was an abysmal 46%, while Gurgaon registered 54% in the Haryana assembly elections.The voting percentages of the major metros of India in the Lok Sabha elections in May do not look encouraging at all with an exception of Chennai- Mumbai: 44%, Delhi : 53%, Bangalore : 46%, Chennai : 60%, Hyderabad : 54%...For the assembly elections the Election Commission in an unprecedented move made sure that offices, colleges, malls, theatres were all shut but yet the response was so poor. The problem is that urban India, the middle class, youth & professionals do not feel inspired by the political fraternity to come out & vote. With migration of rural population to urban areas going up, this trend could hamper the overall voting percentage even more in the years to come.

Rise of Naxalism- With the naxal menace getting worse by the day the Indian security situation has become even more volatile. The reprehensible violent methods adopted by naxals are a serious cause of concern. But an even more serious cause of concern is the growing support for these naxals in the rural & tribal areas. Poverty is the main reason behind this growing support which again successive governments have failed to counter. This rise in support underlines another chilling reality - The Indian poor drifting away from Indian democracy. The poor have started loosing faith in the political system to solve their basic issues. In turn they are embracing the even more poisonouse radicals who in the long run could spell devestation for the whole country including them.

After 62 years of independence India is again fighting a battle for democracy. Probably this time it’s not a mass revolution like it was against the british rule, but a more subtle & sustained battle been fought in different corners through different ways by different groups in this country. Its time for the establishement & the civil society to wake up & smell the coffee before the dragon within gets out of control.