*Of Bal Thackeray, His admirers and His victims*?

Tapan Bose


Bal Thackeray the self confessed admirer of Hitler and Nathuram Godese and
a lover of Hollywood Westerns is dead. Over the past four decades he ruled
over Shiv Sena, a party that targeted non-Marathi workers, petty traders,
shopkeepers, Muslims and Dalits and migrants  ? harassed them, tortured
them, killed them, looted their property and burnt down their homes and
shops in the city of Mumbai in the name of protecting the interest of
Marathi *Manoos. *As the news of his death spread, Mumbai closed down
fearing a repeat of the post Babri Masjid demolition pogrom which held
Mumbai to ransom from December 5, 1992 to January 19, 1993. A young Muslim
girl from Palghar who questioned the shutdown of Maharashtra on Thackeray?s
death was arrested by Maharashtra police on charges of hurting religious
sentiment and violation of the Cyber Act. Considering the role of
Maharashtra police in the Mumbai pogrom of 1992/93 and its ?successful?
identification of Laskar-e-Toiba and SIMI as the main perpetrators of
Malegaon bomb blast of September 2006, and the arrest of nine Muslim youth,
one can understand why ?Thackerayism? is religion for  Maharashtra police
and the Shiv Sainiks  are their ?brothers in faith?. In 2006, the Anti
Terrorist Squad of Maharashtra police had categorically denied the role of
any Hindu ultra nationalist groups in the Malegaon blast. In November 2006,
Director General of Maharashtra police had announced evidence of
involvement of two Pakistani terrorists in the same blast.


After the arrest of a Hindu God woman Shadvi Pragya Singh, Lt. Colonel
Shrikant Purohit of Military Intelligence, Naba Kumar Sarkar and Swami
Aseemanand and recording of their confessions in 2011, the involvement of a
Hindu terrorist organisation in the terrorist attacks in Malegaon in 2006
and 2008, terrorist bombing of Samjhouta Express and Ajmer Sharif in 2007
and the bomb attack on Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad in 2007 was established.
 While the Muslim youth spent seven years in jail under false charges, the
Congress-NCP coalition government of Maharashtra is yet to punish a single
police man who conspired to implicate the innocent. Earlier the Shiv
Sena-BJP government had suppressed the findings of Justice Shrikrishna
Commission of Inquiry into the Mumbai pogrom of 1992-93 and promoted all
those police men who were indicted for their involvement in the killing of
innocent Muslims.  It is not just Shiv Sena, the Congress Party and or the
National Congress Party also does not want to hurt the sentiments of
?Marathi Manoos?.


Since Thackeray?s death, the media has gone into overdrive to tell all and
sundry what a great man he was. Pranab Mukherjee, the President said in his
death the nation lost a veteran leader who worked relentlessly for the
ordinary man. Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister, praised him for
inculcating a sense of pride in his people. Not to be outdone, Sharad
Pawar, the NCP supremo and union Agriculture Minister praised Thackeray for
his fierce pride in Maharashtra ? a magnanimous leader who was ready to pay
any price for his belief. Indeed Pawar was a recipient of Thackeray?s
magnanimity. In 1982, at a public meeting in Parel?s Kamgar Maidan,
Thackeray had anointed Sharad Pawar as the future chief minister of
Maharashtra. President Pranab Mukherjee was another recipient of
Thackeray?s ?magnanimity?. Mukherjee had gone to Thackeray?s residence to
seek his ?blessings? during the presidential election. During the 2007
presidential election, when the Congress party did not have the numbers,
Thackeray had extended similar blessings to Pratibha Patil. In 1975,
Thackeray supported the Emergency. In 1977 general election, he campaigned
for the Congress party. Thackeray also supported A. R. Antulay, the Chief
Minister of Maharashtra, who had to quit office after being indicted by
Bombay High Court for extortion of money. Antulay was made the Minister of
Minority Affairs by Manmohan Sing in 2006

.

It seems that from Thursday the 15th of November, nearly four days before
his death, Mumbai?s film studios remained shut as the stars, producers,
technicians and the workers were praying for his recovery. Amitabh Bachchan
tweeted, ?each day he continued his struggle with a grit that was baffling
even for the doctors on hand...I sat by his bedside for hours these past
few days, a prayer in my heart?. And, after Thackeray?s death, Lata
Mangheskar said, ?When Bala sahib was there, Maharashtra was there. When
he's not there, there's nothing. No one can equal what he has done for
Maharashtra. We needed him to be with us for many more years.?


Thackeray began his political career in the late sixties by intimidating
and attacking South India residents of Mumbai who worked as clerks, in
small restaurants and as daily wage labourers for taking away the jobs of
Marathi people. In his writings and cartoons he lampooned the Tamil and
Telugu speaking people as ?yangduguwalas? and ?lungiwalas?. Thackeray?s
began attacking the homes of these people and began a campaign to drive out
the ?Madrassis?. He directed his followers to picket cinema halls which
were showing Hindi films produced in Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh.
Thackeray then turned against the Muslims whom he derisively referred to as
the ?Katuas? the circumcised people.  Justice Sri Krishna, in his report on
the Mumbai pogrom of 1992, said that the communal passions of the Hindus
were aroused to fever pitch by the provocative writings in print media,
particularly *Saamna *and *Navaakal*, the mouth pieces of Shiv Sena edited
by Thackeray. Justice Srikrishna asserted that magazines published
exaggerated accounts of the MathCAD murders and the Radhabai Chawl incident
and floated rumours of imminent attacks by Muslims using sophisticated
arms.


The truth is that the difference between pro-Khalistan, Jarnail Singh
Bhinderanwalle and pro-Marathi Manoos, Thackeray is that of degree and not
of kind. The only difference is that Bhinderwanwalle was killed in a battle
he waged in defence of his cause, where as Thackeray died in his bed and
has been hailed as ?veteran leader?. Obviously his victims do not matter.