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

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

BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!!!!!! It was 7 AM Thursday, 22nd October. Election results. Where was the remote? Where did I leave it last night? Holy shit! Aleena was sleeping on the remote. And the damn thing was wet. Aleena had done susu over it. Goddamnit!!!! Can’t help it. I wiped it clean and switched on the TV. Dish TV welcomes you!! Bullshit, get lost. Where was Times Now? There it was.

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 under India calling. Tags: elections, Marastra, MNS, NDTV, Raj, results, Thakeray, Times Now. Comments: 6

Mumbai is surely a city of superstitious people. And they consider 13 as an unlucky number, quite religiously (pun intended). Otherwise how can anyone explain the dismal 45% voting in the city which has nearly 70 lakh registered voters? I mean we are talking about a city which witnessed the bloodiest terrorist attack in the history of this country but still does not care about who comes to power in the state. Quite ironic if not ridiculous. It’s ironic because I remember watching lakhs of Mumbaikars protesting against the failure of the govt to prevent these attacks but when it came to making a choice they backed out, rather meekly I’d say. Or may be it was just that that they are too superstitious about number 13, holiday or no holiday.

Posted on October 14th, 2009 under India calling. Tags: arjun rampal, campaign, elections, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Raj, Thakeray, vote. Comments: 4

Some of our politicians have provoked these incidents. Others have fueled fire in them and there some others like Vilasrao Deshmukh who have done their bit by just keeping quiet when they were supposed to speak up. I mean when things were so bad in Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh was just a mute spectator from his hometown in Latur.

Posted on November 1st, 2008 under India calling. Tags: advantage, Amar, castes, chaos, chief, citizens, community, country, cultures, deputy, deserve, Deshmukh, diversity, divided, equal, example, fact, fire, incidents, India calling, Indian, interests, Kumar, Lalu, languages, leader, Maharashtra, marriage, mileage, minister, Nitish, oppurtunities, Patil, pattern, peacefully, Political, politicians, position, practice, pride, race, Raj, regionalism, shame, Singh, slip, spectator, subscribe, symbolizes, Thakeray, theory, tolenrance, traditions, unity, Vilasrao, violent, vote, Yadav, zero. Comments: None

That’s what people are saying. They say that this entire game has been played out by Congress to undermine Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. Initially he was ‘instigated’ by Congress to highlight certain issues which have been very dear to Shiv Sena.

Posted on October 22nd, 2008 under India calling. Tags: approval, bars, benefits, Congress, cool, Deshmukh, elections, enthusiasm, executed, gain, games, Home, India calling, instigated, issues, Maharashtra, man, minister, operator, Patil, people, play, popularity, power, question, Raj, regionalism, scene, Sena, Shiv, Shivraj, Thakeray, trap, Vilasrao, visible, young. Comments: 2

Finally the Vilasrao Deshmukh govt has shown some resolve, under pressure or whatever. They have arrested Raj Thakeray at Ratnagiri and is being brought to Mumbai by road. Hopefully Raj will be kept in a normal cell and not in some heavily guarded guest house. Workers of MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) have already started venting anger in Mulund, Parel

Posted on October 21st, 2008 under India calling. Tags: act, activities, arrest, arrested, authorities, ball, bars, cell, conclusion, Congress, Deshmukh, ensure, govt, guarded, guest, house, issue, jail, logical, Maharashtra, MNS, Mumbai, ominous, pressure, public, Raj, Ratnagiri, reactions, resolve, rolling, Sena, sentiment, Shiv, silence, surprised, swift, Thakeray, Vilasrao, workers. Comments: 1