Why queasy about Raj Thackeray being a terrorist

Why only the nephew? Call a rose by any other name; it will give the same smell. Howsoever you anglicize your name your essence of sub continental origin stinks to the outsider. This complexity rebounds on you when you are terribly obsessed by provincialism.

Of late Raj Thackeray has been in the news for attempting to wear the saffron garb of his uncle and thereby trespassing his domain. That has raised alarm because of the elections round the corner. Fighting election in the name of fighting terrorism is not every body’s cup of tea, though you can fool some for sometimes or others for all the time, as Narendra Modi has at succeeded in doing. But the truth will have to emerge as Chanderyaan emerged in the clear sky over Sriharikotla after leaving the cloud of smoke behind on September 22 2008.

The virtual shut down of Mumbai on October 21 2008 on account of the nephew is of the vintage of the hay day of the uncle in 2000. After all he is the chip of the old block. Hold the metropolis to ransom by the awesome muscle power is terrorism localized. What Maharashtra Navnerman Sena is doing now is the repetition of what Shiv Sena did before and is doing on the sly to keep it afloat. Shopkeepers, commuters, students, drivers are too terrified to stir out. It is not a civil boycott but enforced quarantine where you risk your limb and life if you go against the dictates of the shakha pramukhs. Their collecting of fund for the party and other programmes smacks of involuntary submission to their fiefdom where the satraps hold their sway and of course it extends to the neighbouring police station. There you negotiate through them to strike a deal.

Where is civic sense and fair play in such a set up?

The skimpy youths from north India appearing for exams of railway are from the most wretched families without much hope of a future eager to go out wherever they are posted to eke out existence. They are ready to jettison everything much like the south Indians of the bygone time. The MNS activists entered 13 centers of examination and physically assaulted them leading to death and injury. That is terrorizing.

Primarily the question of the north Indians seeking job is a constitutionally justifiable matter. This, irrespective of the fact of how much corruption is in any state for no state is without it. No need to say who is holier than the other. Nor is the amount of bribe and kick back available for the public good. Since Mumbai is the financial capital of the country it is inevitable that people would strive for their share of what they earn by the sweat of their brows. The police at the instance of the government maintain law and order. When both of them look the other way what happens is what has been happening for quite sometimes in Mumbai as elsewhere in the country. One kind of terrorism cannot innately preclude other acts of terrorism.

Raj or Swaraj himself sough a definition of a terrorist. Or was he asking for it with tongue in cheek? Anyone who uses brutal force for a political cause by creating fear in others should know what it is. Force means violence and bloodshed, he did it once only recently and wants to perpetuate it at will whenever he wants to appropriate the sovereignty of the state.

Raj Thackeray has opened the bottle and let the genii out and now it is not within his control to call the genii back. The burning of railway stations across Bihar and other parts of north India threatens to derail the country itself.