Congress created Raj

A farce has been witnessed in Mumbai over the past few weeks, beginning with the assault by MNS workers on North Indian candidates who had come for a railway recruitment exam, followed by projection of the incident by Raj Thackeray as further evidence of his willingness and ability to protect ‘Marathi Manoos’ at all costs, and finally culminating in an elaborate and highly publicised ‘arrest’, judicial remand and release on bail of a triumphant and emboldened Raj Thackeray.To anyone even vaguely familiar with Indian political history, the entire sorry episode smacks of déjà vu. Raj, who copies his uncle’s mannerisms and political posturing, now seems set to emulate the method employed by his uncle in the 1960’s to achieve political relevance and clout.It is well known that Bal Thackeray and the Shiv Sena were originally an invention of the Congress, created to break the then Communist stranglehold over Bombay and its unionized workers. Bal Thackeray succeeded beyond the Congress’ hopes, but much like its other Frankenstein, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwalle, Bal Thackeray turned on the Congress and eventually decimated it in Maharashtra.The wheel has come full circle, and it is now clear that the Congress, which faces incumbency at the State and national levels and has been utterly exposed as being impotent in combating Islamic terrorism, has decided to prop up Raj Thackeray as the new champion of the mythical construct of ‘Marathi Manoos’, positioned as a direct counterweight to its rival, the Shiv Sena of Bal Thackeray.Consider the sequence of events that led to the recent spate of violence in Mumbai, and the complicity of the Congress-UPA and Raj’s MNS becomes evident: A Railway recruitment exam is to be held in Mumbai. Anticipating trouble, prospective candidates try to meet Lalu Yadav, the Railway Minister in the Congress led UPA government, to petition for a change in venue, but the Hon’ble Minister refuses to even give them an audience.Approximately 2.29 lakh candidates register for the exam in Mumbai, which is held to fill the bulk of jobs in the Indian Railways. As anticipated, MNS workers run riot and wantonly thrash young North Indian candidates, causing widespread destruction of property in their wake. The state police, under the Congress government, remains a mute observer to all of this, and takes no preventive measures. At least one student has died as a result of injuries sustained in the assault. Before, during and after the attacks, Raj Thackeray and sundry MNS satraps make incendiary speeches against North Indians, exhorting and encouraging workers to continue their illegal assaults without fear of retribution from either Central or State governments. The situation is allowed to boil over, and tension and fear grips the city of Mumbai.Soon, the anger and resentment spills over to the North Indian states, particularly BJP ruled Bihar which had recently evicted the Railway Minister Lalu Yadav. Suddenly, incidents of arson, looting of trains and general lawlessness grip the State of Bihar, ostensibly as a ‘popular’ response to the actions of the MNS in Mumbai. The byte-a-minute sensationalist television channels try to outdo each other by giving maximum coverage to Raj Thackeray’s inflammatory statements and shenanigans, thereby giving him coverage and stature which far exceeds his actual limited support base.When sufficient national opprobrium has been generated against this unabashed flouting of law and order, and once Raj Thackeray’s vitriolic statements have brought him to the political centre stage from the wilderness he inhabited not more than a few months ago, the Congress government finally decides to ‘act’.A highly dramatic arrest is made in the early hours of the morning in Ratnagiri, about 250 kms from Mumbai in full view of TV cameras. The convoy of police cars ferrying Raj Thackeray follows a circuitous route to reach Mumbai, and sufficient time is given to MNS supporters to gather in locations throughout the city to create further trouble. Despite prior warning and imposition of Section 144 in various areas, the MNS workers again run riot and vandalise large parts of the city, which is completely paralysed. Raj Thackeray is eventually produced in Court four hours later than originally scheduled, but is only charged with offences related to inciting riots, unlawful assembly and causing damage to property, even though under well settled legal principles he can be charged with Murder punishable with death under Section 302, IPC, having committed acts calculated to put the lives of many in jeopardy, with full consciousness of probable consequences, eventually resulting in death of at least two persons.After being kept in police custody overnight, he is released on bail within 48 hours of his ‘arrest’. He arrives back at his home to a rapturous reception by his ecstatic supporters, his credentials as defender of Marathi pride unimpeachably established by his willingness to suffer incarceration for the sake of the cause.Mumbai is virtually held hostage for a week, and at the end of it all, Raj Thackeray sits comfortably in his home while no retribution is brought to bear on the ring leaders of the widespread violence. Sharad Pawar and Narayan Rane, senior leaders of the Congress, have even gone to the extent of justifying the violent actions of the MNS and oppose calls for stringent action against Raj Thackeray or the MNS.And the net result of this elaborate farce enacted at the expense of the common Mumbaikar, whether Marathi or non-Marathi? Raj and his MNS have virtually replaced Bal Thackeray and the Sena as the official defenders of Marathi parochialism and would now expect a far richer electoral harvest as a result of consolidation of the parochial Marathi vote than they could have dreamt of a few months ago when they were wandering aimlessly in the political wilderness.The Congress will project its arrest of Raj Thackeray as an example to North Indians and the average Mumbaikar of their commitment to the cosmopolitan idea of Mumbai, and of their ability to act firmly when faced with a dire threat, and will blame his release on the vagaries of the legal system. Lalu Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and other Hindi belt UPA politicians will present themselves to their electorates as protectors of North Indian / Bihari interests. The Shiv Sena will cede yet more political ground to the MNS, and thereby improve the prospects of its rival, the Congress, in State politics.At present, it appears the Congress has successfully played the cynical political gambit it has used many times before – the intentional creation of an alternate albeit unstable power centre to weaken an adversary it is not able to combat directly.As it had created Bal Thackeray to defeat the Communists, it has now created Raj Thackeray to usurp Bal Thackeray’s legacy of Marathi parochialism. But the Congress and its momentarily gleeful strategists would do well to remember that while short term gains may be gratifying, in the long run, monsters of the Congress’ creation have always turned on their creators and caused them lasting damage. Raj Thackeray is an unscrupulous and unstable opportunist, and his tacit or express support of the Congress in the future may well prove to be the poisoned chalice that destroys the Congress’ credibility in Maharashtra and beyond.