The fight for the heart of the Marathi 'manoos'

Two years ago state finance minister Jayant Patil (NCP) had protested to the Planning Commission in Delhi about the 'step-motherly treatment' meted out to the Maharashtrian youth by the Railway Recruitment Board. The Shiv Sena's main plank has always been the rights of the Marathi manoos. It too has objected loudly against the Board's recruitment practices.

It is now the turn of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to target the Board and its alleged anti-Maharashtrian stance. Last year at a rally held at Shivaji Park MNS chief Raj Thackeray had read out some statistics to substantiate the charge that few railway jobs come to the local populace. Against this backdrop, the violence against North Indian applicants for railway jobs hardly comes as a surprise.

The MNS has, in a calculated move, decided to use violence as an effective weapon against North Indians to establish a distinct political identity. They are not apologetic about their strategy. Says MNS general secretary Pravin Darekar: "We were not aware of the railway examinations. Our local workers figured out only when, on Saturday night, they saw UPites and Biharis at railway stations in large numbers. Had we known earlier we would have launched a more aggressive campaign."

An organisation which is yet to prove its electoral merit, the MNS is leaving no stone unturned to strike an emotive bond with the Marathis who constitute 26% of the city's vote bank. The MNS has also identified pockets in Nashik and Pune where it hopes to gain electoral mileage in the next assembly elections.

The big question is: are common Maharashtrians okay with the politics of violence unleashed by the MNS and now supported by Shiv Sena? The answer is a clear 'no'.
But the issues Raj is raising cannot be rubbished totally and this is a factor he wants to exploit to grab some political turf dominated by the Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena-BJP combines.

Many old-timers in this city, including non-Maharashtrians, who have to struggle 24x7 to make a living, see North Indians as the face of all that is wrong with the city especially the strain on its crumbling infrastructure This gives politicians a ready platform to exploit. The ruling Congress and NCP parties have often played a double game to promote regionalism and weaken their rivals. This now means playing the MNS against the Sena.

Politicians from UP and Bihar, who have been carrying on a 'tu tu mein mein' with Thackerays, too need to do some serious introspection. The caste politics that Bihar and UP favour has obstructed development in these states. The unemployed youth from these states have no choice but migrate in search of livelihood.

The Shiv Sena in the meanwhile finds its political plank effectively hijacked by the MNS. In its effort to widen its base outside Maharashtra, the party had started wooing North Indians settled in the city. Under Uddhav Thackeray, the party had more or less forsaken violence. Now, the Sena finds itself in a dilemma. It is obvious from its me-too reaction that it is now desperately trying to win back its original turf and aggressive image.