The Vilasrao Deshmukh-led Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra allowed itself to be dictated by considerations of politics rather than discharge its primary responsibility of maintaining law and order in Mumbai and elsewhere in the state over the last ten days. So, nobody was convinced when the state government finally arrested Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and Samajawadi Party’s Mumbai leader Abu Azmi on Wednesday. In any case, both of them were back home by late in the day, out on bail.
It is inexplicable why the Deshmukh government should be soft on the rebel Thackeray, tolerating his supporters’ violent street protests against North Indians in Mumbai and elsewhere in the state following his provocative remarks. His MNS outfit was struggling to retain its relevance after its poor performance in municipal elections in Mumbai and other cities and towns in the state some time back.
But politics has its own logic. The Congress wouldn’t have been too pleased with the fact that Raj had lost out in his challenge to the Shiv Sena organisation controlled by his cousin Udhav Thackeray. The party had expected to see a vertical split in the Sena base between the rival factions and, thus, to electorally benefit from it. That did not happen as the Sena-BJP combine went on to retain its stranglehold over the Mumbai corporation. What also cannot be missed is that state revenue minister Narayan Rane maintains a good rapport with Raj.
The inference that emerges is almost clear: Raj could not have done what he had managed to do on the streets of Mumbai over the last few days without some degree of tolerance on the part of the state government. As for Raj, he left nobody in much doubt on Wednesday that his actions were driven more by hard political calculations rather than any conviction. He had repeatedly asserted he would rather opt for spending time in custody than apply for bail. But it took him just a couple of hours to apply for bail and secure his release. He had no difficulty in compromising on his stated pro-Maharashtrian cause while accepting the tough bail conditions. Actually, why should he have? Hasn’t he succeeded in hogging the headlines for ten days and retain his relevance to test waters in another electoral battle?
