Maharashtra vs Bihar

Call it Mumbai masti. Or should that be Patna patakas? If the verbal swordsplay between Messrs Bal Thackeray and Laloo Prasad Yadav was not so crude, it may even have been possible to consider it as a well-meant attempt to stir up the year-end lethargy with some brisk if toxic hilarity. But that would be an impossibility, considering the damage these two gentlemen are doing to rational political discourse in the country and to inter-state relations in general.

While Laloo Prasad Yadav loudly suggests that if Bihar and Biharis withdrew their investments, Maharashtra8217;s economy would crumble, Bal Thackeray snarls that the man had better watch his words and promptly proceeds to spew out a veritable dictionary of diatribe, which his party colleague Manohar Joshi as Speaker of the Lok Sabha would no doubt have ruled as unparliamentary had they been uttered on the floor of the House. Not only was Laloo Prasad Yadav likened to a bovine quadruped, he was termed a 8220;joker8221; who still had the grains of the biryani he ate in Pakistan lodged in his teeth, in response to which the inimitable Laloo Prasad Yadav came up with a detailed account of his current dietary preferences, and of the fact that he is now a vegetarian who swears by sattu, Bihar8217;s legendary source of nourishment 8212; which, he added, Thackeray would not be able to digest.

It is likely that things will not end here, given the formidable reputations as motormouths that both leaders have carefully cultivated over the years. But end it must because an exchange like this goes much beyond two angular personalities. In fact it poisons the air and sets at risk the well-being of the people of both states. The misguided 8216;Mee Mumbaikar8217; campaign of the Shiv Sena has already led to its cadres attacking Bihari youth in Mumbai. Laloo Prasad Yadav may enjoy posing as their ultimate protector but he is, by his words and actions, making them even more vulnerable. As for Thackeray, even his own party8217;s members in states like Uttar Pradesh are finding its difficult to stomach his parochial agenda. The Shiv Sena tiger may then find itself mauled in its own jungle.