Maratha Raj

Shopkeepers and traders were terrorised and the campaign expanded to make Devnagari signboards more prominent than their English counterparts. MNS activists seemed all set to go on the rampage after the July 28 deadline when the Bombay High Court intervened, an intervention that got Raj to back off and shook the state government out of its slumber as well. But, by then, Raj had managed to send another strong message across: anything the Shiv Sena could do or try to do, the MNS would try to outdo.

Over the last six months, following the MNS political strategy has been a roller-coaster ride. After his finger-pointing aggression led north Indians to flee their adopted homeland, Thackeray was gagged and warned despite the initial reluctance of the Congress-NCP alliance to come down hard on him. But the MNS was back in action soon, targeting colleges in Pune and seeking primacy in admissions to Maharashtrians there, doing a repeat in Mumbai8217;s schools, seeking to assert itself over air-conditioned taxis in the city and issuing diktats to Bollywood until the Marathi signboards campaign was offered on a platter.

The government of Vilasrao Deshmukh has largely been a silent spectator, leading to justified speculation that it is actually covertly supportive of Raj8217;s parochial politics as it believes that he would help split the Shiv Sena vote bank. Some of this speculation was helped by the fact that Deshmukh and the Congress delayed acting against Raj in February while the NCP, which holds the home portfolio, actually resisted curbing him saying it did not want to make him a hero. Wittingly or unwittingly, they have ended up doing just that.

The MNS political roadmap is not original and resembles the Shiv Sena8217;s 8212; a programme that was hugely successful as it built Bal Thackeray8217;s radical ruffians into a right-wing political party that won power in alliance with the BJP three decades after its formation. Like the Shiv Sena, the MNS has begun forming trade unions or infiltrating existing ones to assert its presence and gain much-needed financial muscle. Membership and fund-raising drives are also on, with the MNS preying on the xenophobia of some Maharashtrians and exploiting the fear of non-Maharashtrians.

Raj has himself displayed a mixture of political viciousness, ambitiousness and naiveteacute;, much like uncle Bal Thackeray. He is apparently positioning himself not for assembly elections in 2009 but the ones due in 2014; and for a post-Balasaheb era when he can rally rabid Shiv Sainiks around him. He gave an indication of this ambition when the country was gripped by the July 22 trust vote in parliament. Responding to Vilasrao Deshmukh8217;s warning against running a parallel government, Raj hit back saying he was actually interested in running a real government.

There is nothing wrong with young, ambitious politicians. This country desperately lacks young politicians with character, desire and a charter that inspires instead of one that instigates. However, the means Raj employs set him apart from the Omar Abdullahs, Jyotiraditya Scindias and Sachin Pilots, showing him up as a maverick, megalomaniac, merchant of hate. It is not as if Raj is not smart enough to make a course correction. He gave some evidence of that when the Bombay High Court rapped him on the Marathi signboards issue, forcing him to backtrack and yet claim victory. It is here that the Congress-NCP government can move in and force Raj to play by the book and ensure that he does not end up a Frankenstein like the Shiv Sena did. Because in politics the means matter as much as the end and Maharashtra has a slew of critical issues that can be capitalised on by a charismatic regional politician.

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