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 | Gandhi Jayanti under MNS hooliganism Our Correspondent There was an ugly irony in Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray’s latest essay in hooliganism. On Gandhi Jayanti—when India celebrates the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation—a well-known hoodlum lets loose his goons against a movie, Wake Up Sid, in which he thinks that an error has been made by the filmmaker. The error— Mumbai was referred as ‘Bombay,’ the metropolitan city’s earlier name—hurt the hoodlum’s sentiments. This is an unpardonable ‘crime’ in Bombay, sorry Mumbai. The ‘crime’ is not categorized as such in the Indian Penal Code; it has not been defined by Parliament or by the Maharashtra Assembly. Raj Thackeray says it is a crime, and therefore it is a crime. Period. In Pune, MNS activists stop the screening of the film; they hold protests at some cinema halls in Mumbai. Film producer Karan Johar immediately understands the gravity of the situation; he, like other people with some general knowledge, was aware that though technically India is a democracy which prides itself for having the rule of law, in practice there is nothing to stop thugs like Raj. So, in Johar’s own words, “As soon I learnt about the protests, I decided to pay a visit to Thackeray to explain why we have kept ‘Bombay’.” Johar did not forget to praise the MNS fuehrer. “Raj was very cordial and explained to us where he came from. We understood his point of view… We apologized to him in case his sentiments were hurt. We are very sorry if we have hurt sentiments of other people. That was never our intention.” So, this was how the world famous Bollywood—or should it now be renamed Mollywood after Mumbai?—celebrated Gandhi Jayanti. Adding salt to the injury, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan deprecated Johar’s apology. “It was not right for Karan Johar to have apologized,” the said. “Police are there to address his (Johar’s) concerns.” The Chief Minister’s statement was an exercise in hypocrisy and brazenness, for it is an open secret that his party is using Raj to dilute the Shiv Sena’s Marathi card; many a time, the ruling coalition in the state has let the MNS boss off the hook. What is worse is that even the Opposition in the state, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine, has not castigated Raj for his felony or his arrogating to himself the powers of legislation, executive and judiciary. Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “If Johar really feels sorry about it, he should apologise to Maharashtra (and not to Raj).” In short, there is nothing wrong in Raj Thackeray’s hooliganism, which was once again legitimized—this time on Gandhi Jayanti. Posted on : 10/12/2009 Mail this article to your friend |