By IANS
Mumbai : Raj Thackeray’s dramatic arrest and hurried release may have catapulted him into political stardom but it is not clear if the attacks on north Indians his men commandeered has really enhanced his stature.
As India’s financial and movie capital calculated the profits and losses of 10 days of unrest in Maharashtra, one thing seemed clear: Thackeray has a long way to go in a state where the dominant players continue to be the alliances led by the Shiv Sena and the Congress.
As Mumbai University official S. Vivek made a telling remark, the so-called street protests that followed Thackeray’s arrest Wednesday was confined to his hardcore supporters in the hardly-well-known-till-last-week Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). In each spot, the gatherings were small, some drawing barely a few dozen slogan-shouting men.
But even random violence by a few can unsettle a teeming metropolis like Mumbai where nearly 20 million people stay in the city and suburbs.
Most people in Mumbai, however, believe that media overkill has helped Thackeray, 40, achieve in just two weeks what he could not earn since launching the MNS soon after he quit the Shiv Sena in a huff in December 2005.
But questions remains if the MNS can even today be considered a formidable state-level political entity on par with the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Nevertheless, Thackeray’s decision to target migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, after branding them “outsiders”, and emphasising that Maharashtra belongs to Maharashtrians is a move to upstage the Shiv Sena, headed by his uncle Bal Thackeray and cousin Uddhav.
When the MNS was born, early in 2006, the Shiv Sena Thackerays (father and son) sniggered. The rest of Maharashtra’s political flock too laughed it off.
Unperturbed, the MNS plodded ahead. It bagged a handful of seats in several municipal corporation elections across the state in the past two years, including Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) in February 2007.
Yet, Raj somehow lacked the standing in state politics he madly craved for.
Most people considered MNS as a party cobbled together by defections from disgruntled Shiv Sainiks and local leaders sidelined in other parties and felt it would not go very far.
Raj learnt the fine art of politics under the tutelage of his firebrand uncle – called Balasaheb by admirers and supporters – in the late 1980s and 1990s. He started as the chief of the Sena’s youth wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (ABVS).
The Sena found his real utility after one of its senior leaders, Chhagan Bhujbal, quit and joined the Congress in 1992 and then, a few years later, the NCP.
Raj quickly attained popularity among the Sena youth with his charisma, dramatic mannerisms and his penchant for spitting venom, quite like his venerable uncle. These traits he displayed in ample measure during the past troubled fortnight.
In his earlier avatar, Raj earned the grudging admiration of his uncle by organising a Michael Jackson concert in Mumbai in 1996 and by luring unemployed youths with promises of small loans to set up roadside stalls through the Shiv Udyog Sena.
All the time he took care to maintain a low profile, keeping a safe distance from cousin and Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav but quietly strengthening his mass base among grass root Shiv Sainiks.
He also hobnobbed with the rich and powerful, those from the glamour world and glitterati, generally basking in the reflected glory of his famous uncle.
Not surprisingly, some top Sena functionaries, especially Uddhav, former chief minister and Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, ex-chief minister Narayan Rane and others started feeling insecure – or so it appeared.
Although the ageing Joshi patiently held on to the party, Rane, the man in a hurry, sensing the possibility of a dynastic legacy overtaking leaders like him, embraced the Congress three years ago.
When Uddhav was anointed party executive president in 2002, Raj did not exhibit any bitterness publicly. But slowly a chasm developed between the two – referred to as tiger cubs.
And once Raj declared that he was open to the idea of becoming chief minister – a comment that sent jitters in the Uddhav camp and prompted Shiv Sainiks to take sides. It was something unprecedented for the party.
Three years later, Raj walked out of Sena to explore his political fortunes.
The move was belittled by his uncle: “Shiv Sena is the Himalayas which rose on the shoulders of loyal Shiv Sainiks and everyone in it has grown up in its shadow. Those standing in its shadow should not think they are bigger.”
For now, all eyes are on the Shiv Sena’s next move vis-à-vis Raj.
The chief minister’s throne may still be too far away for Raj. Presently, he has brought the MNS to a position where other parties can talk business with him. The run-up to the assembly elections in mid-2009 will prove to be his real test.