Nandita Sengupta/TNN
New Delhi, Oct 30: Raj Thackeray’s politics of hate and the state's weak-kneed approach in countering it with a firm hand has agitated several prominent Maharashtrians. They are also disgusted with the rapid deterioration of what was once India’s most cosmopolitan city. Some feel that years of state neglect is the root cause of the current xenophobic wave against north Indians.
Poet Dilip Chitre says that there is revulsion among the majority over the attacks. All the incidents, he says, can be traced to a “hysterical MNS” whose hate politics does not represent “even 2% of Maharashtra”. Chitre, who moved from Mumbai to Pune some years ago, further explains, “Such street politics and its extra-legal methods are almost legitimized by the government’s overlooking them.
So, sane and level-headed citizens feel abandoned.” Journalist-writer Anil Dharker tries to put the problem in perspective. “The congestion of daily life”, says Dharker “has made living in Mumbai impossible.
If the rich can feel the pressure, it is much worse for the working classes, the lower middle classes who commute by train and bus.”
According to Dharker, this is where Raj Thackeray’s focus on the north Indian as the person who stands at the root of all troubles meets with a degree of resonance in the streets. The outsider is an easy target to blame for the gruelling living and working conditions in this demanding city.
Mumbai is a city, says author Arun Sadhu, where accidents, murders and fisticuffs “happen regularly”, even bus hijacks. Conflicts can rarely be attributed to linguistic, or regional differences, says Sadhu. It is, perhaps, an easy acceptance of crime in Mumbai’s psyche that blinds many to growing intolerance and silences those who could speak out.
Former India cricket captain Ajit Wadekar doesn’t speak directly on the subject. He seems to indicate that Mumbai is better off without any form of violent agitational politics directed against particular communities. He says, “If India wants to become a superpower, then we cannot let regional or inter-community differences stop us from making progress. After all, we are all Indians.”
That’s the over-riding sentiment. The considered opinion is that this would not have come to pass had the law and order machinery been allowed to work. The state’s ineptness at tackling brute force meets with contempt. “When security is such a crucial issue,” says Chitre, “he (Patil) sends the police to chase bar girls. It is easy now for terrorists to attack because the police is busy managing the MNS.” Chitre says either Home Minister R R Patil or Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh “must go” for their weak-willed actions and words.
The fact that a handful of hooligans seem to have the power to create terror in the city has echoes in the Shiv Sena’s past. In the early Seventies, says Dharker, the South Indian was Bal Thackeray’s target outsider. It seems little has changed since then. Sadhu also cautions the media against falling prey to Raj’s manipulative tactics, and providing him the oxygen of publicity he needs.
There may be misgivings expressed behind closed doors, but for the world, Mumbaikars want to make it clear that the Bombay picture remains the same, and no single organization can change that. But as Dharker says, the common man may not identify with the violence, but it’s about time “something is done about the city splitting at the seams”.