Bal Thakeray had to do what he did. There was just no option left for him. His own protege Raj Thakeray was running away with his Marathi Manoos agenda. And it was working for Raj like the way it originally worked for Bal Thakeray with the result that Raj was being talked about as the new Bal Thakeray. How could he allow another Bal Thakeray to take his place in his own lifetime? Also, he was getting increasingly desperate what with his own son whom he chose over the more popular Raj proving to be quite a dud as far as taking control of the Sena and its future was concerned. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong occasion and the wrong person to reinvent his own ideology. Sachin Tendulkar was the wrong person to be picked for this exercise. Not only is he a thoroughbred gentleman but he’s also an absolutely non political icon whom the entire country adores. But it was not to be. In his exuberance to make amends for wrongs of the last few years when he allowed Raj Thakeray and his MNS to hijack his own agenda Bal Thakeray has shot himself in his own foot. Sachin may have said those few words as a proud Indian but they have triggered a sequence of events which have some far reaching implications. Here are some of them.

1. Sachin stands tall. There was never any doubt about it but after this he has once again gained the respect of the entire country, this time though with his words. He will be long remembered for it which are indeed worthy of praise. It’ll be interesting to see if other great Maharashtrian cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar were to come out in support of Tendulkar and knowing Sunny he might just do it. I won’t be then surprised to see Bal Thakeray toning down his rhetoric and come out with a statement like - There’s never been any doubt about Sachin’s greatness and that that his comments were misconstrued. Or some such words and we can be sure that this will happen if people like Sunny Gavaskar were to come out in support of Sachin.

2. Bal Thakeray stands isolated. The entire country seems to have ganged up against him. Even BJP has distanced itself from him on this issue. In fact BJP was at pains to explain their position but eventually they did. Shiv Sena’s MPs were also yesterday seen as being very uncomfortable trying to justify their ‘Bala Saheb’. Off course this was a perfect opportunity for Congress and others to ridicule him and they all did. Like I said, Bal Thakeray has shot himself in his foot.

3. India stands united. For a change we can see almost all Indians uniting on this one issue and it includes well known Maharashtrians like their CM Ashok Chavan. Even BCCI with most of its members being Maharashtrians have categorically objected to this. Fact is that no Indian will accept anything against Sachin. And therefore by default he has united the country with just a few good words.

4. Raj Thakeray has emerged as being smarter than Bal Thakeray at his own game. Though Raj also ridiculed national icons like Amitabh Bacchhan and his wife but he was smart enough not to have picked a Maharashtrian who has nothing to do with any political party. Amitabh on the other hand is associated with Samajwadi Party. On this particular issue of Sachin Raj has coolly refrained from making any comment. SMART BUOY, as Ajit would call him.

5. Conviction in one’s own principals do matter. If you recall what Amitabh and Karan Johar did when MNS issued threats against them you’ll see that they went out of their way to accommodate him and the matter ended there. Amitabh and Jaya apologized after they were threatened for speaking in Hindi and Karan changed Bombay to Mumbai in his movie Wake up Sid after he was threatened by MNS. There was no public support for them because before people could sympathize with them these guys had changed their position. Had they stood their ground Indians would have surely come out in their support but they chose the easier way out and compromised. Like I said conviction in one’s own principals does matter. By the way, Karan’s movie might have done much better than what it did had he not compromised and the controversy stayed on.

6. More trouble for non Maharashtrians. Bal Thakeray has not really retired. As I said earlier, Udhav Thakeray has not lived upto the expectations of his father while Raj has, albeit for a different party. This current outburst by the senior Thakeray may just signal his return to active politics. If that happens both MNS and Shiv Sena will keep trying to out do each other on their one point agenda of Marathi Manoos. This, unfortunately means only more trouble for non Maharashtrians staying there, particularly in Mumbai.

Be that as it may the issue once again brings into focus a major problem which we are at pains to deal with. The issue of North Indians particularly those from UP and Bihar are being targeted by MNS and Shiv Sena while they are just trying to eke out a living in Maharashtra. Fact is that none of us have really addressed the root cause of this problem. It is that because UP and Bihar are so backward and underdeveloped that it is very difficult for their multitudes (and thats the only thing quite a few of them seem to be good at-producing multitudes) to find work there. They therefore migrate to affluent places like Mumbai in search of work. Mumbaikars on their part use them because these guys are ready to work more for much less than what locals demand. And thus these locals are left unemployed while ‘outsiders’ get employment. Its a vicious circle but the root cause is the state of things in UP and Bihar. If things were to improve in these two states not only will these guys stop migrating to Mumbai but some may actually go back to their own states. Though things are indeed looking up in Bihar it still has a very long way to go. As for UP the less said the better. They are still stuck up in their quagmire and will continue to do so. In the mean while we can expect people like Bal and Raj Thakeray to continue eking out their own living by targeting ‘outsiders’. Lets just hope Congress and NCP realize when its time to come down heavily against these elements.

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Posted on November 17th, 2009 India calling • Tags: Amitabh, bal, BJP, Bollywood, Congress, Cricket, MNS, Movies, Raj, Sachin, Shiv sena, Thakeray. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback