Imran Khan
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Divide and rule? Identity politics stoke fears in Mumbai
By Phil Hazlewood
Intimidation and deadly violence used for local ends are threatening a fragile sense of national unity
PAROCHIAL identity politics are gripping Indias most cosmopolitan city, Mumbai, stoking fears that intimidation and deadly violence used for local ends are threatening a fragile sense of national unity.
At the centre of the row is Raj Thackeray, the leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party, who pushes a hard line of more jobs for people from Maharashtra state - of which Mumbai is the capital - and vigorously promotes the local Marathi language.
In that regard, he is the latest in a long line of Indian political leaders who look to secure their power base by tapping into the fierce sense of regional identity in this country of one billion people.
But it is the violence that often follows Thackerays pronouncements - particularly towards north Indian migrant workers who flock to the city to find jobs - that has caused concern in Indias financial capital and beyond.
MNS activists last month beat up north Indians who came to sit an exam to work on the railways and one man died after being thrown from a train. Violence then erupted after Thackeray was arrested and accused of inciting the unrest.
This week the state government postponed the release of a film dealing with the struggle of north Indian migrant workers in Mumbai, fearing it could inflame real-life community tensions.
For now, Thackeray is on bail and banned from making public statements. But as some north Indians begin leaving Maharashtra - and those that have stayed behind live in fear - many are bracing for the next flashpoint.
Battle lines have already been drawn. In north India, there have been violent counter-protests and a political party has even offered to send its supporters to Mumbai to protect non-Maharashtrians.
Thackerays claims to be the guardian of local culture and identity, protecting it from the cheap labour of non-Marathi-speaking outsiders, mirrors the immigration debate around the world.
He may have support, particularly amongst the city and states impoverished underclass, but some see his chauvinistic brand of rabble-rousing politics as damaging the image of Mumbai, Maharashtra and the country.
Raj Thackeray is... dividing India by unleashing his goon squads on fellow Indians, with fatal consequences, just because they happen to come from outside the state, the leading weekly magazine India Today said recently.
Others have said the belligerent Thackeray embodies the kind of sectarianism that independence and partition in 1947 - when the subcontinent was carved into Hindu-majority India and mainly Muslim Pakistan - were intended to eliminate.
Like many, Mahesh Vijapurkar, a former deputy editor at the English-language newspaper The Hindu, sees Raj Thackeray as a modern-day incarnation of his uncle Bal Thackeray who led a 1960s fight for a Maharashtra for Marathis.
The ageing Bal is still leader of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party, of which MNS is an offshoot. It was Shiv Sena that changed the name of the former Bombay to Mumbai in the mid-1990s as part of a drive to reflect Marathi culture.
Its activists were also identified in a judicial report as being involved in the deadly communal riots between Hindus and Muslims in Mumbai in 1992-93 that left more than 1,000 people dead.
He (Raj Thackeray) is exactly his uncles clone in every which way, Vijapurkar told AFP.
But the nephew has added economics into the mix of deep-seated Indian divisions along language, caste and regional lines, the former politics and government specialist added.
People are getting worried about their share of the economic pie, he said.
How to resolve the tense situation is far from clear, as state elections in Maharashtra loom early next year.
But there is a popular belief the ruling coalition in the state government here has been muted in its criticism of Thackeray hoping that a split in the vote between Shiv Sena and the MNS could well keep them in power.
Its cynical politics of the state... In India you can play politics with regard to identity. Its par for the course, Vijapurkar said. afp
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
By Phil Hazlewood
Intimidation and deadly violence used for local ends are threatening a fragile sense of national unity
PAROCHIAL identity politics are gripping Indias most cosmopolitan city, Mumbai, stoking fears that intimidation and deadly violence used for local ends are threatening a fragile sense of national unity.
At the centre of the row is Raj Thackeray, the leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party, who pushes a hard line of more jobs for people from Maharashtra state - of which Mumbai is the capital - and vigorously promotes the local Marathi language.
In that regard, he is the latest in a long line of Indian political leaders who look to secure their power base by tapping into the fierce sense of regional identity in this country of one billion people.
But it is the violence that often follows Thackerays pronouncements - particularly towards north Indian migrant workers who flock to the city to find jobs - that has caused concern in Indias financial capital and beyond.
MNS activists last month beat up north Indians who came to sit an exam to work on the railways and one man died after being thrown from a train. Violence then erupted after Thackeray was arrested and accused of inciting the unrest.
This week the state government postponed the release of a film dealing with the struggle of north Indian migrant workers in Mumbai, fearing it could inflame real-life community tensions.
For now, Thackeray is on bail and banned from making public statements. But as some north Indians begin leaving Maharashtra - and those that have stayed behind live in fear - many are bracing for the next flashpoint.
Battle lines have already been drawn. In north India, there have been violent counter-protests and a political party has even offered to send its supporters to Mumbai to protect non-Maharashtrians.
Thackerays claims to be the guardian of local culture and identity, protecting it from the cheap labour of non-Marathi-speaking outsiders, mirrors the immigration debate around the world.
He may have support, particularly amongst the city and states impoverished underclass, but some see his chauvinistic brand of rabble-rousing politics as damaging the image of Mumbai, Maharashtra and the country.
Raj Thackeray is... dividing India by unleashing his goon squads on fellow Indians, with fatal consequences, just because they happen to come from outside the state, the leading weekly magazine India Today said recently.
Others have said the belligerent Thackeray embodies the kind of sectarianism that independence and partition in 1947 - when the subcontinent was carved into Hindu-majority India and mainly Muslim Pakistan - were intended to eliminate.
Like many, Mahesh Vijapurkar, a former deputy editor at the English-language newspaper The Hindu, sees Raj Thackeray as a modern-day incarnation of his uncle Bal Thackeray who led a 1960s fight for a Maharashtra for Marathis.
The ageing Bal is still leader of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party, of which MNS is an offshoot. It was Shiv Sena that changed the name of the former Bombay to Mumbai in the mid-1990s as part of a drive to reflect Marathi culture.
Its activists were also identified in a judicial report as being involved in the deadly communal riots between Hindus and Muslims in Mumbai in 1992-93 that left more than 1,000 people dead.
He (Raj Thackeray) is exactly his uncles clone in every which way, Vijapurkar told AFP.
But the nephew has added economics into the mix of deep-seated Indian divisions along language, caste and regional lines, the former politics and government specialist added.
People are getting worried about their share of the economic pie, he said.
How to resolve the tense situation is far from clear, as state elections in Maharashtra loom early next year.
But there is a popular belief the ruling coalition in the state government here has been muted in its criticism of Thackeray hoping that a split in the vote between Shiv Sena and the MNS could well keep them in power.
Its cynical politics of the state... In India you can play politics with regard to identity. Its par for the course, Vijapurkar said. afp
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
