When Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray cocked a snook at the state government and took out a massive procession to the historic Azad Maidan, most Mumbaikars apprehended big trouble.
Surprisingly the hugerally which included many women passed off peacefully.
Neither Patil norPatnaik were unduly perturbed by the acidic criticism, expletives hurled byThackeray or his repeated demand that they should quit during his short speechat the rally.
Quite airily, Patil,who hails from Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, dismissed allcriticism against him as “a political gimmick,” and said there was no questionof his resignation.
He retaliated withappropriate threatening noises about taking “action” against Thackeray forflouting police orders and taking out the procession, disrupting entire southMumbai.
However, it was quiteobvious that the police had winked at Thackeray’s morcha as much as they had ‘ignored’signs of trouble that reeked during the August 11 procession which had endedviolently with 2 dead and dozens, including many cops and media-persons,injured.
The real tremors of theAugust 11 procession followed by the August 21 MNS programme, were however felt– not in R R Patil’s home department or the police, or even the rulingCongress-NCP alliance.
They ended upshaking the already shaky Shiv Sena and its allies who failed to exploit theAugust 11 violence to its advantage, unlike the MNS.
Interestingly, justa day earlier (August 20), SS executive president Uddhav Thackeray hadaddressed a large gathering of partymen at Azad Maidan while inaugurating therestored freedom memorial which was desecrated during the August 11 violence.
That symbolicgathering barely registered in the public mind, already pre-occupied with thelooming threat of the MNS procession the following day (August 21).
On the other hand,the MNS succeeded in sending out a clear signal to its claim as an alternativeto the SS – in terms of rooting for the Marathi sons-of-the-soil, Marathi‘asmita’ (pride), jobs for Marathi youth and similar issues – all dear to hisuncle Bal Thackeray’s heart…
And, in terms of thesheer timing of the MNS procession, its flirtations with ‘Hindutva,’ though Rajvehemently dismissed the contention, convinced many that he was positioning theparty strategically vis-à-vis the two main alliances – the ruling Congress-NCPand the Opposition SS-Bharatiya Janata Party-Republican Party of India.
Considered abrainchild of former chief minister, the late Vilasrao Deshmukh, the MNS’smischief making abilities have not yet faded from the SS-BJP memory, especiallyduring the 2009 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Not only did MNSsucceeded in inflicting severe damage to the saffron alliance hoping to grabpower, it actually helped the Congress-NCP return to power for a thirdconsecutive term in a row after 1999 and 2004. Nobody, on both sides, harboureven faint doubts that Raj is poised to play an even bigger role in the ensuing2014 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
As Chief MinisterPrithviraj Chavan said recently, with Uddhav Thackeray’s recent health problemsand his aging father’s occasional muted roars, the average Marathi would needmore than just aggression to face the next elections.
Perhaps, a newJungle Raj would be more alluring…!
