Column

It is amazing how, often, the liberal brigade sounds much like the right wing bigots it so despises.

Last week, as the hysteria over the alleged molestation of two girls mounted, many of from both ideological wings were on television (where else?) ranting about how this could have happened. The latter were clear about who was to blame; it was the outsiders who had migrated into the city.

Intriguingly, the former had the same ideas. On one show, a rent-a-quote Enlightened Liberal Bombayite (ELB) was asked by the anchor to give an insta-analysis of what had happened.

Promptly came the answer: “In our time, Bombay was a civilised city where people did not behave this way. Now it is Mumbai and all kinds of people have come here from all different states.”

See the similarity? It’s those outsiders, say both, except both have a different idea about who constitutes an outsider.

For the Shiv Sena, the party that beats the ‘outsider’ drum the hardest, it usually means North Indians, or Uttar Bharatiyas. Uttar Bharatiyas, which can mean Biharis or those from UP, are the latest bugbear of the Sena, like Gujaratis and ‘Madrasis’ used to be at one time.

These Uttar Bharatiyas are reviled and ridiculed by the Sena and many others in Marathi popular culture —there is a play poking fun at them — for having stolen jobs from the sons of the soil.

Migrants from those two states have visibly increased in Mumbaibut there is no evidence to suggest that they form the bulk of newcomers, or indeed, that they have disproportionately contributed to the crime rate. But then logic has rarely been the strong suit of the Sena.

To the ELB, the outsiders are gatecrashers not only to the city but also to the entrenched social bastions. The vulgar nouveau riche elements, the arrivistes who have invaded the Page 3 parties, the wannabes; all of these, along with the poor North Indian migrants are objects to be detested for they foul up a city where everyone knew their place.

So both sides moaned and groaned about the decline of standards in the city, and of the city itself. All the usual suspects were on the telly saying much the usual things.

The blaming finger was pointed towards Bollywood, class distinctions and most of all, the police. In this case, it came out as a clumsy, inefficient and even callous force, overly preoccupied with technicalities about jurisdiction and so on.

The police, and more specifically the police commissioner, got tripped up by the media frenzy. In this day of media and especially television saturation, the police needs to learn the tricks of the trade.

Which means the top cop should have given pithy sound bytes and platitudes rather than the standard issue answers or even slow, lumbering logic of the “doesn’t this happen elsewhere” kind even if he had a point.

The city’s nerves needed soothing with firm assurances, not admonishment.Soon policemen will have to learn modern communication skills and get a tele-friendly face who will give suave replies.

Television (and even print, to an extent) today generates its own mob mentality. The reporters’ scrum that surrounds celebrities, the studio audience or panel of experts and even the audience, which can be manipulated — all these are mobs in their own way, moving in unison first one way, then another, drowning out any voice not raised to a sufficient pitch.

No other argument is brooked, no dissenting point of view acknowledged. The terms of the debate, once set, are non-negotiable. Can you imagine anyone, during the course of the week, daring to suggest that we shouldn’t take anything at face value and not condemn till all the facts were established.

Pervert would have been the kindest epithet hurled at him. So ultimately, it boils down to this — if you don’t join a mob, you risk being cast aside, or even lynched, either physically, or by the sheer weight of intolerant opinion, while the crowd revels in its sanctimoniousness.

In a long stint as a journalist, and even longer as a resident of this great city, I have seen many examples of mob fury and violence.

Some found their way to the media others remained small, local affairs. I have also seen random acts of tremendous kindness. Both reflected the city in all its colours. Sometimes one felt city had gone to the dogs, at other times the heart soared. Mumbai has gone on from strength to strength, despite its boors and beasts. It will do so again — and yes, with its outsiders.

Email: sidharth01@dnaindia.net