JUDGING BALASAHEB THACKERAY
V.S.Gopalakrishnan
(18 Nov 2012)
Yesterday morning I took a taxi – I did not drive my car due to parking problems – and rushed to a Dadar book shop to buy two copies of “Fatkaare” ( pages.260; Rs.250) a book of Balasaheb Thackeray’s wonderful cartoons from 1955 to 1985, which was released a month ago, a veritable treasure trove for me. Only one copy was left there and I had to spend a lot of time with the taxi ploughing through thick traffic jams before I got another copy from another shop and returned home. Dadar bazaars would seem to have the highest shoppers’ density and traffic density at any time!
After lunch I went to attend a Kathak-workshop at Nehru Centre, ten minutes’ drive from home. Sunayana Hazarilal of the Benaras Kathak gharana was holding the fort with her brilliant students and Hema Malini was also lending her presence for a good measure. And when I reached home at 4-30 PM after the workshop did I get the news that Balasaheb was no more by 3-30 PM. Last night I posted a blog on Kathak.
I have since been glued to the TV, watching the scenes and listening to the homages and discussions. The mighty crowd of 2 million in Mumbai today is the best single barometer to testify to the man’s popularity and personality. How many from this crowd were non Shiva Sainiks, I have no idea. But the crowd was basically Marathi-manoos. In many ways Balasaheb was the pride of Maharashtra and that gave a deep sense of pride to Maharashtrians too.
I usually sit on the front seat of the taxi and was chatting with the taxi-driver yesterday as I was making the Dadar trip and back. He was from UP, and indeed the bulk of the Mumbai taxi-drivers are from UP. He held Balasaheb in high esteem and said that the sainiks had never troubled the taxi drivers unlike the Constables. Shiv Sena has had problems with immigres from Bihar and not UP! It is said that the UP-wallahs have taken over taxi driving because they are very hard-working and would even put in 12 hours a day unlike the local Maharashtrian drivers who are said to be aalsi (lazy) and spend the earnings in drinks! This could have a slight exaggeration. Why did not Balasaheb turn the local (Maharashtrain) inhabitants hardworking? I have no clue. What did he do to lessen the drinking habits of the Maharashtrian workers? I have no clue.
Balasaheb was essentially an urban product unlike YB Chavan, Sharad Pawar and other Maharashtrian leaders who hailed from rural backgrounds. The Mumbai city which he understood best was his closest hunting ground, and of course, thanks to his immense organizing power, and that was one of his greatest strengths, his Sena could spread its tentacles all over Maharashtra and to even other parts of India. The Sainiks took over the Mumbai Municipal Corporation long years ago. I am not sure of the exact contribution that the city has received from Balasaheb and his men in its development in the last two decades. The city looks modern with skyscrapers, and traffic movement is not too bad due to construction of fly-overs. The island city has the luxury of getting 24 hour electricity. Yet, there are any number of slums here with visible poverty. Lakhs sleep on pavements and lakhs are homeless. The suburban trains are so overcrowded, the travelers crowd like animals. All talks over the years about making Mumbai a Singapore or Shanghai have meant nothing. Why could not Balasaheb manage to get huge central funds for Mumbai’s development and maintenance although the city contributes one third in direct taxes and indirect taxes to the national exchequer? How much of real efforts did he make in this matter? The Congress at the Centre indeed showed no respect for him. Even Maharashtra’s ruling Congress has miserably failed here.
The Shiv Sena began its existence in 1966 with the avowed object of protecting the interests of Maharashtrians. Southerners were unwanted in Mumbai. But in course of time, people from the North began to arrive in larger numbers. If Maharashtrians were hard-working, say like the Sikhs, which offices and factories would not have wanted them? An average Gujarati shop-keeper always scores over a Maharashtrian shop-keeper by miles, through better public relationship and harder efforts. A Narendra Modi in Maharashtra could not have succeeded even by half as in Gujarat! But stopping the outsiders was only small cards for Balasaheb. His trump card came out later when he stood for Hindutva. This was inevitable since the Sena stood in opposition to Congress which had the power in the State. And Congress had been playing vote-bank politics. The underworld of Mumbai essentially into drugs, arms, hawala, cinema, gold-smuggling etc has had large Muslim players, and the credit for this is given to the Congress. The Muslims of Mumbai did not like Sena.
And yet no Balasaheb Thackeray has been able to stop or reduce the influx of Bangla refugees into Mumbai. The Congress power in Mantralaya flows from rural votes and yet it alone polices the city, and this policing has been very weak as per the Sena. It is a miracle of sorts that one man, namely Balasaheb, could weather through all the adversities over 47 years of political life without losing hope or hold over the people. He did join hands with the BJP thanks to the common hindutva factor and the common anti-Congress factor, and yet barring a few years the State has been ruled by Congress and lately with NCP as coalition partners.
Does man (leader) make history or does history make man (leader)? Balasaheb surely made history. He had to start from scratch unlike Sonia who got her billion dollars and the Congress Party on a platter. Balasaheb’s multi-faceted personality and very hard work combined with firm beliefs took him to Himalayan heights as a charismatic leader. May his soul rest in peace.
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V.S.Gopalakrishnan
(18 Nov 2012)
Yesterday morning I took a taxi – I did not drive my car due to parking problems – and rushed to a Dadar book shop to buy two copies of “Fatkaare” ( pages.260; Rs.250) a book of Balasaheb Thackeray’s wonderful cartoons from 1955 to 1985, which was released a month ago, a veritable treasure trove for me. Only one copy was left there and I had to spend a lot of time with the taxi ploughing through thick traffic jams before I got another copy from another shop and returned home. Dadar bazaars would seem to have the highest shoppers’ density and traffic density at any time!
After lunch I went to attend a Kathak-workshop at Nehru Centre, ten minutes’ drive from home. Sunayana Hazarilal of the Benaras Kathak gharana was holding the fort with her brilliant students and Hema Malini was also lending her presence for a good measure. And when I reached home at 4-30 PM after the workshop did I get the news that Balasaheb was no more by 3-30 PM. Last night I posted a blog on Kathak.
I have since been glued to the TV, watching the scenes and listening to the homages and discussions. The mighty crowd of 2 million in Mumbai today is the best single barometer to testify to the man’s popularity and personality. How many from this crowd were non Shiva Sainiks, I have no idea. But the crowd was basically Marathi-manoos. In many ways Balasaheb was the pride of Maharashtra and that gave a deep sense of pride to Maharashtrians too.
I usually sit on the front seat of the taxi and was chatting with the taxi-driver yesterday as I was making the Dadar trip and back. He was from UP, and indeed the bulk of the Mumbai taxi-drivers are from UP. He held Balasaheb in high esteem and said that the sainiks had never troubled the taxi drivers unlike the Constables. Shiv Sena has had problems with immigres from Bihar and not UP! It is said that the UP-wallahs have taken over taxi driving because they are very hard-working and would even put in 12 hours a day unlike the local Maharashtrian drivers who are said to be aalsi (lazy) and spend the earnings in drinks! This could have a slight exaggeration. Why did not Balasaheb turn the local (Maharashtrain) inhabitants hardworking? I have no clue. What did he do to lessen the drinking habits of the Maharashtrian workers? I have no clue.
Balasaheb was essentially an urban product unlike YB Chavan, Sharad Pawar and other Maharashtrian leaders who hailed from rural backgrounds. The Mumbai city which he understood best was his closest hunting ground, and of course, thanks to his immense organizing power, and that was one of his greatest strengths, his Sena could spread its tentacles all over Maharashtra and to even other parts of India. The Sainiks took over the Mumbai Municipal Corporation long years ago. I am not sure of the exact contribution that the city has received from Balasaheb and his men in its development in the last two decades. The city looks modern with skyscrapers, and traffic movement is not too bad due to construction of fly-overs. The island city has the luxury of getting 24 hour electricity. Yet, there are any number of slums here with visible poverty. Lakhs sleep on pavements and lakhs are homeless. The suburban trains are so overcrowded, the travelers crowd like animals. All talks over the years about making Mumbai a Singapore or Shanghai have meant nothing. Why could not Balasaheb manage to get huge central funds for Mumbai’s development and maintenance although the city contributes one third in direct taxes and indirect taxes to the national exchequer? How much of real efforts did he make in this matter? The Congress at the Centre indeed showed no respect for him. Even Maharashtra’s ruling Congress has miserably failed here.
The Shiv Sena began its existence in 1966 with the avowed object of protecting the interests of Maharashtrians. Southerners were unwanted in Mumbai. But in course of time, people from the North began to arrive in larger numbers. If Maharashtrians were hard-working, say like the Sikhs, which offices and factories would not have wanted them? An average Gujarati shop-keeper always scores over a Maharashtrian shop-keeper by miles, through better public relationship and harder efforts. A Narendra Modi in Maharashtra could not have succeeded even by half as in Gujarat! But stopping the outsiders was only small cards for Balasaheb. His trump card came out later when he stood for Hindutva. This was inevitable since the Sena stood in opposition to Congress which had the power in the State. And Congress had been playing vote-bank politics. The underworld of Mumbai essentially into drugs, arms, hawala, cinema, gold-smuggling etc has had large Muslim players, and the credit for this is given to the Congress. The Muslims of Mumbai did not like Sena.
And yet no Balasaheb Thackeray has been able to stop or reduce the influx of Bangla refugees into Mumbai. The Congress power in Mantralaya flows from rural votes and yet it alone polices the city, and this policing has been very weak as per the Sena. It is a miracle of sorts that one man, namely Balasaheb, could weather through all the adversities over 47 years of political life without losing hope or hold over the people. He did join hands with the BJP thanks to the common hindutva factor and the common anti-Congress factor, and yet barring a few years the State has been ruled by Congress and lately with NCP as coalition partners.
Does man (leader) make history or does history make man (leader)? Balasaheb surely made history. He had to start from scratch unlike Sonia who got her billion dollars and the Congress Party on a platter. Balasaheb’s multi-faceted personality and very hard work combined with firm beliefs took him to Himalayan heights as a charismatic leader. May his soul rest in peace.
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