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)
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