Nearly fifty years ago when Shiv Sena came into being it was on Marathi Manoos plank, basically directed at South Indians within Mumbai at that time. That the agenda has not changed in the last fifty years, though the target has, shows the lack of growth within the party both intellectually and physically. And this despite the fact that they have been in power in the state. Another indicator of their lack of their growth are their strained relations with RSS and BJP, who have quite categorically said that Mumbai belongs to India and not just Mumbaikars. A couple of years ago this would have been unthinkable. Also, it is rather ironical that Shiv Sena is desperately trying to spread it’s base into other parts of the country as well. With the kind of approach they have vis-a-vis Mumbai are they implying that their own members who are from outside Maharashtra are not welcome in Mumbai? I mean, wouldn’t that be a shame?

Posted on February 8th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Congress, Gandhi, growth, Mumbai, Rahul, Shiv sena, SRK, Thakeray. Comments: 5

The kind of support SRK has drummed up in the last few days is not exactly to his credit. What his supporters have failed to appreciate is that what he said was absolutely inadvertent and at the spur of the moment. After having said this when Shiv Sena picked up those lines there was no way he could’ve retracted his statement without losing a lot of face not just in the country but abroad as well. And losing face means losing money as his movie My name is Khan is due for release shortly, which is anathema to a businessman like him. Pertinent to mention that Shahrukh’s Red Chillies Entertainment is also involved in this movie. Secondly, if he really wanted Pakistani players to play in IPL he would’ve bid for them in the auction but he didn’t.

Posted on February 5th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Amir, Bollywood, Cricket, IPL, My name is Khan, player, Shiv sena, SRK. Comments: 12

Smita- Hey Pops! I’m leavin’.

Bal Thakeray (BT)- What! You haven’t even made my khichdi yet. You can’t leave.

Smita- I don’t care about your khichdi anymore. I’m leavin’.

BT- OK OK! Never mind. I’ll tell Raj to make it. He’s actually very good at making khichdi. See the way he has made a khichdi out of Marathi Manoos. Do you know I taught him that?

Smita- I wish you had taught Udhav also the same thing.

BT- I thought you were leaving.

Smita- I am.

BT- While on your way back get 250 gms dahi for my raita.

Posted on November 28th, 2009 under India calling. Tags: bal, BJP, Congress, Hurriyat, Raj, Shiv sena, Smita, Thakeray. Comments: 3

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.

Posted on November 17th, 2009 under India calling. Tags: Amitabh, bal, BJP, Bollywood, Congress, Cricket, MNS, Movies, Raj, Sachin, Shiv sena, Thakeray. Comments: 5

Kamleshwar, the late Hindi writer and commentator once said,” Kitne Pakistan”. How many Pakistans do we have within India? He was so right. Pakistan is right here inside us, meaning that we are our own worst enemies. Even as we keep hearing of discrimination against people from North East, subjugation of Muslims in Gujarat or other such biases MNS took this enmity to a completely new level when they assaulted Abu Azmi of SP in the legislative assembly for taking his oath in Hindi. The bias itself may not be anything new but the way it came to the fore it was a brutal slap on the faces of all right minded Indians. For me it signifies the beginning of Talibanisation of Maharashtra where you could see them trying to impose their brand of Maharashtra on others.

Posted on November 10th, 2009 under India calling. Tags: assault, assembly, BJP, Congress, MLA, MNS, Raj, Shiv sena, Thakeray. Comments: 10

To be fair to Advani we did hear from him initially a day or so after Pragya Thakur was arrested. He said that terrorism in any form has to be condemned. That was surely the correct thing to say, at that time. But things have changed ever since. Initially it seemed that it was just the Sadhvi and her faithfuls who have indulged in this dastardly act but now it is amply clear that there are many Hindu fundamentalists involved in this whole thing.

Posted on November 15th, 2008 under India calling. Tags: Advani, assistance, BJP, blasts, Change, Congress, credit, dare, extremist, favor, fundamentalist, Hindu, incidents, innocent, investigations, legal, Muslim, pariwar, people, Pragya Thakur, roots, sadhvi, Sangh, Shiv sena, support. Comments: None

The political parties have already started making the right noises based on their respective ethos, agendas and track records. No surprises in store there. We expected Congress, BSP and Left parties to lambast the right wing parties and their connections with Pragya Thakur. We also expected BJP to be on the back-foot and do some flip flop on this issue. As things stand today we are yet to hear a concrete statement from them on where they stand.
APROPOS - 04 Nov 08

Posted on November 3rd, 2008 under India calling. Tags: blast, bomb, Hindu, Politics, Pragya Thakur, Shiv sena, terrorism. Comments: 3

Its one of the saddest days of my life. My worst fears have come true. I always suspected this but now we know for sure that there are Hindu terrorists around us who indulge in activities similar to the terrorists belonging to other faiths. I still find it very difficult to believe this.

Posted on October 25th, 2008 under India calling. Tags: act, Amitabh, associations, BJP, blame, blasts, charges, christians, Congress, denial, discredit, elections, electoral, favor, form, gains, hardliners, Hindu, involvement, killing, life, mode, motivated, muslims, naked, nationalist, organizations, palling around, Politics, power, ruled, Shiv sena, swing, terrorism, terrorists, ugly. Comments: 2