The neglected child throwing tantrums

There was a time when a roar from the Shiv Sena’s tiger could bring Mumbai to a standstill. Now, it’s just a minor irritant, one more tantrum, marginally less annoying than that mosquito buzzing in your ear. The mosquito, at least potentially, can give you malaria, filaria, encephalitis, dengue, chikungunya… it can be that dangerous after all. Doesn’t it seem, somehow, that the Shiv Sena has reached the end game? Its shrill hooliganism is so not frightening that in a sense, it has become a bad caricature of itself. Mumbai only for Marathis, how dare Shah Rukh Khan support Pakistani cricketers, how dare Mukesh Ambani say that Mumbai belongs to all Indians… It’s beginning to sound like the tantrum of a neglected child.

And really, that is what it has become — practically an orphan, rudderless in a new world which no longer appears to sympathise with its once “vital” causes. We all know the reasons for this sad state. The Sena has been in a downward spiral for years now and has not even partially recovered from the body blow dealt to it by the betrayal by Raj Thackeray three years ago. Not only did he split the party, he also stole their core constituency and their ability to create disruptions. He has tasted the first blood of electoral victory and is carving out his own narrow path to success.

The Sena now careens from non-issue to non-issue, looking somehow to regain its sole status as the main spokesperson of the “Marathi” cause. As its idea of what constitutes being pro-Marathi is severely limited, it is stuck. Uddhav Thackeray had tried to increase the scope of the party’s catchment area by taking on the issue of the farmers of Vidarbha for instance —  something that is of great concern for the state and the nation. But the party was unable it seemed to make the push for maturity that such issues demand. Little, Mumbai-based ideas seemed to suit its members better.

Part of the trouble lies in the churning that Indian society has been going through. The BJP got taken in by the giant middle class with its Shining India campaign and paid the price. The Congress learnt some lessons about the consequences of its own indifference and arrogance, picked up from the BJP’s errors and latched on to the “aam aadmi” or common man once again, but with a 21st century twist. The Sena unfortunately, even as several rats jumped ship and landed in other parties, didn’t get it. The “new” world lies somewhere between the BJP’s Shining India and the Congress’s “aam aadmi” and narrow sectarian problems no longer bother it quite so much. Making a fuss about Valentine’s Day will only entertain our 24-hour news channels which are ravenously hungry for something to fill their empty space and time.

The life and times of a few Mumbai taxi drivers can scarcely be more important than inflation, than rising food prices, than the continuing threat from over-the-border terrorists. If they want to narrow themselves to Mumbai, there’s water, the growing stranglehold of the builder-politician nexus, the apparent collapse of the police force. Oops, water comes under the Sena’s domain since they run the municipal commission and the problems caused by political greed are shared by all political parties. No action is likely to be taken here by anyone.

In which case, it is clear that the Sena has lost too much ground. Its current issues are old and dated and the new push to become a bigger more national party appears to be too formidable at this time. Meanwhile, its partner in the “saffron alliance”, the BJP, is chaffing that the strings that tie it to the Sena and the RSS, the head of the Parivar, has taken issue with it over the recent attacks on North Indians. The RSS — headed as it happens by a Maharashtrian —  also believes that Mumbai belongs to the whole of India. What a radical idea for the Sena to have to deal with now.