Advani breaks silence: Mumbai hate campaign is against Constitution

With Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and cousin Uddhav’s Shiv Sena vitiating Mumbai’s atmosphere by competing...

With Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and cousin Uddhav’s Shiv Sena vitiating Mumbai’s atmosphere by competing with each other to target “North Indian migrants”, Sena ally BJP’s leader L K Advani today broke his party’s silence on the issue, saying the hate campaign “is against the Constitution and the concept of national unity”.

Though he did not name Uddhav or Raj, Advani, speaking on the sidelines of a function, said: “Every Indian has a right to live, work and travel to any place in the country irrespective of his place of birth. No party or person should undermine the Constitution of the country. The Constitution clearly provides for everyone’s right to live and work anywhere in the country. We cannot accept what is being said in Maharashtra about people from UP or Bihar. It is against the Constitution and the concept of national unity.”

Shiv Sena revived its original agenda of Maratha pride and prominence in the wake of belligerent posturing by the MNS. In its original avatar in the 1960s, the Shiv Sena targeted “South Indians” who were the visible “outsiders” in Mumbai. But now, the Hindi-speaking people, who constitute a noticeable segment of the city’s population, are the new targets. Uddhav Thackeray has said that if labourers from UP and Bihar are brought for the construction of the new Mumbai airport, they would packed off and sent back in cargo planes.

The Shiv Sena’s aggression has the BJP in discomfort as it is trying to expand base and consolidate alliances across the country, particularly in UP and Bihar. The Shiv Sena was the first ally that the BJP found — in 1989 — and the partnership has survived many a storm since then. In 2007, the Maharashtra BJP leadership and the Shiv Sena were locked in a war of words and the alliance seemed to be nearing its end. But Advani intervened and the crisis was resolved. Given that Advani has now launched his campaign for the next general elections, this sudden focus on a regional agenda is inconvenient.

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