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Journalism of Courage
Mumbai is no stranger to the violence that has been unleashed in the metropolis the last few days by Raj Thackeray8217;s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS against migrant jobseekers from other states. Looking back, it all started with the brand of agitational politics that his uncle and Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, patented in his early years as a politician.
Thackeray Sr left his job as a cartoonist with The Free Press Journal in 1960 and started a Marathi cartoon weekly called Marmik. The situation was ripe for regional and linguistic polarisation as the erstwhile Bombay Presidency had been divided into two linguistic states 8212; Maharashtra and Gujarat. There was a battle for the then Bombay city, with Marathis uniting to demand that the city should remain in Maharashtra. In the ensuing agitations, 105 people lost their lives.
Marathis in the city mostly worked in textile mills, engineering industries and the port. A majority belonged to the working class and were lower-rung white collar employees. The top jobs were largely occupied by non-Marathis.
Bal Thackeray began organising Marathis on the sons-of-the-soil issue. Subsequently, Marmik started an anti-south Indian campaign as people from the southern states thronged the city for jobs and also opened shops and restaurants. Marmik started publishing lists of officials employed by the corporates in an attempt to prove that Marathis were being marginalised and south Indians favoured. Circulation jumped and Thackeray Sr gained.
The Congress was accused of using Thackeray Sr to combat the growing influence of the communists in the trade unions in textile mills; and encouraging him to float the Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966.
The first campaign forcefully taken up by the party was against south Indians. Shiv Sainiks would attack shops and restaurants of south Indians, the so-called 8220;lungiwallahs8221;. Since the party in power apparently wanted to pamper Thackeray Sr, the government was soft on him and seen to be so.
Four decades later, Raj 8212; who walks and talks like his uncle 8212; is playing the same card. The Congress and NCP want to weaken the Shiv Sena, which is the main opposition party. Raj broke away from the Sena to form the MNS in 2006 ostensibly because Thackeray Sr promoted his son, Uddhav, as heir. In a city where the average Marathi family is not able to afford a house, Raj8217;s rhetoric attracts youngsters.
Raj is targeting north Indians because they are the most visible migrants in Mumbai and its outskirts. Besides, after delimitation, the assembly seats in the expanding Mumbai metropolitan area Mumbai and Thane has gone up from 47 to 60 8212; with some dominated by north Indian migrants. The MNS worries that leaders like Mayawati, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Amar Singh may be trying to claw their way in.
