Swan Song Of The Sena And Cabaret Of The Congress
By Anand Teltumbde
23 February, 2010
Countercurrents.org
For the last couple of weeks, Mumbai is turned into a theatre of the absurd around the high-pitched themes of Marathi and patriotism, which although too familiar to all, are sounding like a swan song of the Shiv Sena. The kind of bewildering responses it has been receiving from the ruling Congress party at the centre as well as the state however have been purely entertaining as to be likened to the cabaret- political cabaret-- on the stage.
The Sena and its Senapatis
Shiv Sena, created in June 1966, capitalizing on the growing disillusionment of Marathi masses with the way their Samyukta Maharashtra had turned into a capitalist den and reviving the Marathi sentiment that lay at the root of that movement, whipped up through a Marathi weekly Marmik by Bal Thackeray since 1960s as anti-migrant resentment, basically served the purpose of luring away Marathi workers from the left trade unions which had had visible sway over public life of Mumbai. Its rapid rise however is attributed to the surreptitious support it received from the then chief minister Vasantrao Naik, which helped it build its brand of a ‘roaring tiger’. Entering the stage with a song of Marathi, it participated in elections right since its formation and soon graduated to Hindutva as it made bigger electoral sense. It struck electoral alliance with the BJP and soon emerged as a major political force. In the wake of Babari demolition and bloodbath that followed, it was soon catapulted to power, firstly to the BMC and later to the state. It thrived on its money and muscle power, fear of the growing middle classes, huge support from media and its ruling class nexus that ensured the soft corner of the state. Although, it grew beyond Maharashtra, its core strength lay in its control over Maharashtra and Mumbai.
This Sena control has been clearly dwindling as the results of recent elections suggest. In 1995 the Shiv Sena-BJP combine had won 138 seats and formed the government in the state. In 1999, its tally came down to 125; in 2004 it further declined to 116 and in 2009 it came to its lowest ever to 90. This decline has been particularly marked in Shiv Sena, the major partner in alliance. For the first time in the last two decades since the SS-BJP alliance was formed in 1989 that the Shiv Sena has been reduced to a minor partner, by winning less seats in the state assembly than the BJP. There are many reasons for this decline: exodus of leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal and Narayan Rane, considered to be two of the four pillars of the Shiv Sena; revolt of Raj Thackeray, the right hand man of Bal Thackeray, and formation of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), desertion of Sena by the cadre to join MNS, aging of senior Thackeray, and more importantly exposure of its true character as the self seeking terrorist outfit to the Marathi people. The newly formed MNS has conclusively truncated its base by capturing almost entire Mumbai belt except a lone seat of Kalyan.
The death of Shiv Sena appears fast closing on its Senapatis. Their last hope is to preserve their hold on Mumbai in the BMC elections in 2012. As one of its important leaders, Subhash Desai admitted, “Maintaining Sena rule in BMC is the most important thing for us. … we will do so with constructive violence”. [Indian Express, 16.11.09] For, if they lose Mumbai, they know they will never rise again. It is in this desperation that they are using all their worn-out weapons in their armory-- Marathi, patriotism, anti-Pakistan. The current controversies over Mumbai for Maharashtrians involving Sachin Tendulkar to Rahul Gandhi, over release of My Name is Khan and over obstructing the IPL matches flouting nationalism clearly reflect that the swan has begun to sing its last song.
A Slap in the Face of Terror
Shiv Sena has operated with certain set of strategies: never take on the state power head on; attack the collectives of poor and hapless people but rich and famous individuals. In relation to the former, it uses brave rhetoric but avoids direct confrontation. As for the latter, both get it huge publicity and reinforce its power over people. It has always caught celebrities in controversies to attract media attention and reinforced its terrorist prowess every time they buckled. This time, innocuous statements like “I am an Indian first” is picked up to create controversy. It was Sachin Tendulkar first and in sequel Mukesh Ambani, Rahul Gandhi, Shahukh Khan and others. It is pointless to see rationale in Bal Thackeray and his minions. He invokes martyrdom in Samyukta Maharashtra movement to embellish his irrationality as though all martyrs were his Shiv Sainiks. He forgets that these martyrs sacrificed their lives not for creating any parochial entity, least the dictatorship of Thackeray clan. They laid their lives dreaming of socialist Maharashtra of workers and peasants, articulated by the communist, socialist and Republican leaders. Thackaray, if at all, stands opposed to all of them. The slogan of ‘Maharsahtra’s Mumbai’ meant the claim of incipient state of Maharashtra to include Mumbai It never meant that it only belonged to Maharashtrians as mischievously propagated by Thackerays.
This time all this Sena rhetoric has flopped. Condemnation poured in from every corner. Sena ally BJP disapproved it. Even the middle classes overcame their fear of Sena and came in support of Sachin and others. When Rahul Gandhi was brought into fray, Sena expectedly targeted him and threatened that he would not be allowed to enter Mumbai and later to show him black flags. When he actually came, there were barely a few dozen Sainiks on the streets. He dramatically decided to travel by the local train through the so called Shiv Sena bastion like Dadar and completed his tour successfully without any trace of Sena protest. Unlike earlier times when celebrities buckled before Thackeray, none this time retracted their statements. From Marathi he tried to exploit the issue of Australian and Pakistani players playing in the forthcoming IPL III tourney but met with the similar condemnation. People defiantly displayed the placards in Mumbai that obstructing players is pure terrorism. Belated though, it was clearly a slap in the face of Sena terror.
Pawar’s Underhand Support
Sharad Pawar often showed that he can stoop to any depths for his political ambition. When Thackeray’s threats were punctured by people, Sharad Pawar descended from Delhi to prop up the Sena cart. A politician of dubious record, his entire politics has been unscrupulously oriented to his sole ambition of becoming the prime minister of this country. He miscalculated his prospects in raising the issue of foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi in 1999 and by 2004 had come full circle endorsing her even for prime ministership swallowing all humiliation. He dreamt of bigger role at the Centre but it went bust as his NCP could get just six members to the Lok Sabha and consequently Pawar had to make do with a relatively un-coveted agriculture ministry. In the general elections of 2009, he parleyed with all political parties for alliance to get better deal from the Congress and eventually just managed to maintain his position in the previous government. However, with ascendant mood of Congress, he knows he could be disposed off at the earliest opportunity.
Right since 2004 elections Pawar has been keeping his communication line with Bal Thackeray open. In 2009, it was used to extract better deal in seat adjustment with the Congress. He has been using the strategy of tacit support to Shiv Sena to stave off precipitation with the Congress. At the current juncture, when he is facing barrage of blame from the Congress for the price rise, he has used the alibi of mediating with Bal Thackeray for smooth conduct of the IPL matches to caution the Congress against its humiliating behaviour. He is in position to internally support Shiv Sena through his home minister in Maharashtra and embarrass the Congress led government, which could come handy for him to capture power in Maharashtra in alliance with Sena. In the current episode, the Shiv Sena was completely isolated on the issue of Mumbai as well as IPL matches. All its rhetoric appeared falling flat until Sharad Pawar went to meet Bal Thackeray. None believed that he had gone there for buying peace for IPL matches, but it is not adequately noted that Shiv Sena revived its threat against Shahrukh Khan’s movie only after that meeting.
Floor Show of the Congress
If Pawar is blamed for playing politics, the Congress, at the helm of affairs at the center as well as the state, also cannot escape the blame in its flip flop. Although, both from the center and the state the usual brave statements were issued to maintain the law and order, they remained shy of naming Thackerays who were behind the threat. Chidambaram, who is ready to kill thousands of tribals in process of eliminating the illusive naxal terror through his Operation Green Hunt refused to see the concrete face of terror in Thackerays. The Maharashtra government also kept issuing sterile threats and refused to act against them. While the legal luminaries opined in public domain (television and press media) that Thackerays could be easily booked under the IPC sections 153, 153A, 153 B and several others any time in the past as now, the Maharashtra government feigned business examining their statements. If it wanted to, it could contain Sena within days. But with its clumsy responses it has only helped the Sena in displaying its power to the people. The gigantic police deployment in Mumbai in the wake of the Sena threat reflected just the jitters in government and in turn the power of the Sena. The police which arrests and incarcerates scores of innocent people without reason could easily arrest Thackerays and their minions and realize that they were just the paper tigers. Unlike earlier times, the people had clearly given their verdict against Sena. The government however clearly failed to cash in on it.
In the current episode, what Pawar did is far more damaging than even Thackerays. It may be astute political move on his part but it cannot be denied that it was conspiratorial intrigue against both the state and the people. When the union home minister as well as the state chief minister assured about the smooth conduct of the IPL tourney, how could a cabinet minister, whatever his other roles may be, ignore them and negotiate with the person issuing threats? In doing so, he has clearly undermined the constitutional authority of the government and legitimated the extra-constitutional behaviour of someone. Congress obviously has its political compulsion in not precipitating the issue, but it could surely castigate him for what he has done. While the state Congress leaders unequivocally blamed Pawar, the central leadership defended him for his role as the chief of the cricket board. Whether it is the drama over withdrawal of security to Sena leaders or the security arrangements to theaters scheduled to show Shah Rukh Khan’s film, the government’s behaviour has only helped Sena’s bravado.
Media, which provides life blood to Sena, can be easily accused as the culprit. Bal Thackeray often showed contempt for the media and occasionally prompted physical attacks on media persons, but inexplicably the latter have always worked for him in giving the prime exposure to whatever he said and did. In the wake of its threat to block the release of Shahrukh Khan’s movie, the entire media reeled off programmes around Shiv Sena round the clock for nearly two weeks and made this prank into a national crisis. While it is easy to condemn the media, it must be realized that media in the neoliberal era is pure business. On careful analysis, one finds that the real feed for it comes from the theater of the absurd that our politics has been. And the real losers, the people!
(Anand Teltumbde is a civil rights activist, political analyst and writer. He can be reached at [email protected])
