In Uddhav Thackeray's interest to cut cousin Raj down to size

Unlike previous Congress-NCP or BJP governments, this Sena-led government has no use for Raj Thackeray as a vote-cutter

Mumbaikars know Raj Thackeray well. A skillful orator, the best among the Thackerays, he uses his skills only to arouse contempt and hatred against others, just as his uncle, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray did. Like the latter, he commands a force of lumpens who run riot at his bidding, knowing the cops won't touch them. But there's one characteristic that sets him apart from other leaders: he's up for use by any powerful political party. Thanks to this, so low is his credibility that the man who won 13 seats in 2009 in his debut Assembly poll is now down to just one MLA.

So when the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief threatened last week that if the government did not remove loudspeakers from mosques, his followers would recite the Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers outside mosques; and urged PM Narendra Modi to raid madrasas, everyone knew that Raj Thackeray was speaking in His Master's Voice, which this time, happened to be the BJP. The same man had run a wildly popular campaign against Modi during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, for which he was swiftly punished through Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids.

Previously, the Congress-NCP government had found in him an effective weapon to reduce the votes of their main opposition, the Shiv

Sena, since the MNS too appealed to the Marathi-speaking voter. In return, he was given a long rope to indulge in his chauvinistic politics, even when this caused the death of innocents and massive losses to industry, as happened during his anti-North Indian campaign in 2008. In 2012, the MNS chief came in handy to get a tough, incorruptible police commissioner shunted out.

As Mumbai's Police Commissioner, Arup Patnaik had forced his men to observe restraint even after they had been attacked by a few hotheads at a Muslim rally. Two of the hotheads were shot, but the rally was dispersed peacefully by Patnaik, thereby preventing a full-fledged riot just two days before Ramzan Eid. Mumbai's cops were seething; normally, given such provocation, they would have gone all guns blazing at the 20,000-strong Muslim crowd. As if on cue, Raj Thackeray spoke up for them – but only for the "Marathi police personnel attacked by Bangladeshi Muslims who flock to Mumbai from UP, Bihar and Jharkhand." The day after he demanded Patnaik's ouster, it took place.

The message this transfer sent to Muslims was loud and clear, and many who'd joined the MNS as a fresh alternative to the existing "secular" parties began leaving it. Now, ten years down the line, they're doing so again. After Thackeray's April 2 speech, at least two

Muslim office-bearers quit the party along with about 40 Muslim members.

This was expected; what was not was the opposition from MNS' Hindu office bearers to their leader's inflammatory speech. At a time when national political leaders hesitate to condemn the daily anti-Muslim utterances of BJP ministers, a local level Hindu party functionary says he will not follow his leader's directions because they have hurt his Muslim voters. "People whom we have grown up addressing as mamu, chacha, khala are now looking at me with suspicion, that troubles me," said Vasant More, head of the MNS' Pune unit. He was immediately replaced.

However, while More reconfirmed our belief that all is not lost to the 24/7 propaganda against Muslims spewed out by the BJP, the MVA government didn't rise to the occasion. Prominent voices in the government spoke out; an MNS worker was arrested for hoisting a loudspeaker outside his party office, but no action has been taken against Thackeray, whose speech clearly invites the provisions of IPC

Sec 153 A, i.e., promoting communal enmity. Mumbai's new Police Commissioner Sanjay Pande, who's been actively trying to improve the quality of life for Mumbaikars, could himself have ensured an FIR against Thackeray, or at least issued him a warning. Incidentally, Pande was sidelined all these years even by the Congress-NCP governments partly because of the tough stand he took against Shiv Sainiks during the 1992-93 riots. It would be just fitting for him to act tough now against those trying to disrupt the communal situation in order to create trouble for the Shiv Sena-led government.

Forget the legal action that should ensue from Thackeray's speech. Even politically, it shouldn't be difficult for the MVA government to show Thackeray that he can no longer get away with incitement to violence. Unlike previous Congress-NCP or BJP governments, this Sena-led government has no use for him as a vote-cutter; in fact, it's in Uddhav Thackeray's personal interest to cut him down to size. And this is the perfect opportunity to do so.

(Jyoti Punwani is a journalist)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.