Mumbai isn’t a tale of three Thackerays

Not long after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray termed migrants ‘infiltrators’, his estranged cousin and Shiv Sena heir apparent Uddhav Thackeray, not wanting to be outdone in vitriolic diatribe, has said that migration from Bihar must be kept under check through permit system.

It was barely 80 years ago that a short young politician popularised the concept of lebensraum (roughly translates as ‘living space’) to ascend to power in Germany. Yes, your guess is right, we are talking about Adolf Hitler, who considered anyone non-German sub-human. People of Slavic origin, Gypsies and Jews were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, deported — and in the case of Jews, massacred to the best of his ability.

The more the Thackerays (including Shiv Sena satrap, the ageing but definitely not mellowing, Bal Thackeray) unleash their polarising venom, the more it sounds like a desi version of Mein Kampf. And if one were to analyse their organisations’ agenda, it is only the lack of unchecked power that is preventing them from carrying out similar pogroms.

To understand Raj’s tirades and Uddhav’s attempt to whip up ‘sons of soil’ passions, we should go back to Bombay (wasn’t Mumbai then) of the 1970s. Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena was carrying out a vitriolic (and violent) campaign against South Indians, who, according to him, were taking away the jobs and opportunities of Marathi manoos.

It was under the wing of Bal Thackeray that nephew Raj and son Uddhav cut their teeth in the toxic politics of regionalism. Raj, a firebrand orator, always had more visibility in Shiv Sena and many thought he would take over from Bal Thackeray. However, it was not to be.

As the worried uncle started relegating him to the margins to give more space and visibility for Uddhav, the cousins drifted apart and two factions emerged. And finally in 2006, with no more maneuvering space left within the fold of the same party, Raj walked out and formed the MNS.

Ever since, Raj and his followers embarked on a Marathi chauvinism campaign; shriller, more poisonous, more violent and better organised — designed to outdo his uncle’s outfit in the same department, on his home turf. And it is working.

The audacity with which the MNS is able to continue with its politics of thuggery is an insult to our democracy and the rights guaranteed to all citizens under the Constitution.

Despite its violent campaigns targeting migrant workers, especially autorickshaw and taxi drivers, the MNS boss is a free man and continues his trade with impunity.

While several cases have been registered against the MNS chief and his outfit, thanks to our legal system, the bigot has never had a reason to worry or curtail his activities.

Mumbai is what it is today because it has attracted and made maximum out of the best talents from across the country. It is the migrants who form the fabric of cheap essential services that keep the city running. If people from other states were to be taken out of India’s financial capital, it would be reduced to an empty shell.

South Indian, North Indian, Bihari or Bengali... anyone who is a citizen of this country has the right to travel, live and ply his trade and maintain his identity anywhere in the country.

Organisations like Shiv Sena and MNS are a blot on our culture and have little difference from the Third Reich. They must be crushed before these cancer cells inspire more of their kind elsewhere and become malignant to our civilisation.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on September 5, 2012)

There’s nothing Holy about what we See

The Vatican, the seat of Roman Catholic Church, has throughout its history, found itself digging in on the wrong side of history — the latest scandals to shake the bedrock of a billion faithful have proved that not much has changed.
It was barely a week ago that the board of Vatican Bank (official name, Institute for Religious Works) was forced to sack its chief Ettore Gotti Tedeschi after an Italian police probe and a freeze on a £19-million account.
Tedeschi is lucky, at least so far. In 1982, Banco Ambrosiano (whose main shareholder is Vatican Bank) collapsed after close to $1.5 billion was siphoned off.
Its then chief Roberto Calvi, who was popularly known as ‘God’s Banker’ for his proximity with the Holy See, tried to change his appearance and flee the country. A few days later, his body was found hanging from a London bridge — an inquiry in 1983 found that he was murdered.
Witch-hunts are not new to the Church. It has a long history of ‘silencing’ its critics and using all means necessary to suppress dissemination of information that will hurt the credibility of its doctrines. Philosophers, litterateurs, artists, scientists, social reformers have all faced the brunt of these actions.
Tens of thousands were persecuted, detained, tortured and executed in attempts to enforce the ‘infallibility’ of the Catholic doctrine and the Pope’s unquestionable authority.
For all what Jesus might have had to say, the Church’s activities haven’t been towering examples of righteousness, honesty, transparency and tolerance.
The deafening silence on, if not tacit approval of, Hitler’s persecution of Jews is an excellent example. The Church requires celibacy from its priests (I thought the good book said something about God making woman for man — feminists, no offense intended).
Tens of thousands of children have been abused by priests and I have lost track of the millions, if not billions shelled out by the church of St Peter to keep matters hush-hush. Not only were reported cases of abuse hidden from police, many of the offenders were allowed to continue in key posts — and presumably continue their ‘activities’.
HIV/Aids has killed thousands and the number of cases are skyrocketing. A large chunk of the affected population is in Africa and the Church’s long-standing opposition to condoms have made its mark in a rather deadly way. It was only in 2010, after decades of criticism from human rights activists and medical fraternity, that the Pope decided to condone use of condoms.
The latest leak of highly confidential Vatican documents has revealed battles for supremacy and control raging within its walls have left the Church red in its face.
However, instead of coming clean on the matter, the Church has taken upon itself to target the whistleblowers — the arrest of Pope’s butler is just the tip of the iceberg if we take history into account.
In focus is the secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone, a powerful figure and confidant of Pope Benedict XI, who is the real authority behind Vatican Bank.
The leaked documents also say that Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who had been trying to clean up the state’s finances, was abruptly removed — allegedly for cracking down on corruption. The world has come a long way since inquisitions and burnings at stake.
People, individualism and nation states are the order of the day. If someone’s under the assumption that they can live the unquestioned, opaque lives of medieval ages forever, they are living in a fool’s paradise.
The dark secrets, skeletons in the cupboard and blood under the carpet will be exposed — the Judgement Day is not far away.
(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on May 30, 2012)