National

Beat The Skins

The Uttar Bharatiya is the new 'villain'. It's another Thackeray in the other corner.

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Beat The Skins
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The 'Outsider' Factor
  • They account for 40 lakh of Mumbai's 1.4 crore population
  • Can influence results in 40 of the 70 assembly constituencies in and around the city. The north Indian votebase also impacts seven Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai and Thane.
  • Have formed organisations to represent their interests. There are now 20 such outfits.
  • North Indians have always been with the Congress. This affiliation came from the Sena's earlier animosity towards them.
  • Now all parties, Sena included, are wooing this votebank.
  • The Uttar Bharatiya populace cuts across all classes, from the very rich downwards.
  • It has a presence in 40 vital businesses and trades. These include: construction, dairy, taxis, trucks, vegetables and fruits and also security services.
  • In Mumbai, north Indians are concentrated in Khar, Santacruz, Andheri, Goregaon, Malad, Kandivili, Dharavi, Kurla, Asalfa, Govandi and Vikhroli.
  • Recent migration has also been to places like Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivili.
  • North Indian migration has picked up since the '90s. Influx of South Indians, Marathis, though, has shown a decline.

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Raj Thackeray, pushing 40 now, always had a doppelganger hangover. From his young days, his sole desire has been to be all that his uncle, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, is. On his own now—personally and politically—for over two years, Raj has been looking desperately to steal some of the thunder from his uncle's outfit. His moment came last week as he roused the rabble the way Thackeray Sr used to in the '60s and '70s. Then the tirade was against south Indians; now the wrath was directed against north Indians or Uttar Bharatiyas (a Sena term for migrants from UP, Bihar and MP). The script, though, is not as simple now as it was all those years ago—it has outgrown its authors. And Raj seems to have no idea of how to rein in the monster he has unleashed.

A week after his bitter outbursts sparked off violent attacks in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik, the violence continues sporadically. More so in Mumbai where taxis continue to be wrecked, hawkers roughed up, rickshaws set on fire and shops owned by north Indians attacked. Bhojpuri star Manoj Tiwari's office was vandalised, Amitabh Bachchan's bungalow had glass bottles raining on it. On February 7, fed up with the continuing attacks and the "government's refusal to arrest Raj", the Mumbai Taximen's Union members went on strike. Mumbaikars, as usual, suffered in silence. Raj's party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a Marathi writer remarked, perhaps misunderstood the "meaning of navnirman (renaissance)".

The war of words between Raj and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi climaxed with each daring the other to distribute lathis and talwars to partymen, marking a new low in political debate. Azmi swore that "Mumbai does not belong to any mother*@&+% from Shivaji Park" as his leaders Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh watched. It was left to J&K leader Farooq Abdullah to calm the crowd at the UNPA rally. Earlier, MNS activists targeted taxis that ferried crowds to the rally. Alarmed at the image of a lawless metropolis, the Centre demanded an explanation. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh rushed to meet Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with an action taken report that read 233 arrests till Wednesday, an inspector and SI suspended for dereliction of duty, and an inquiry instituted against ACP Balkrishna Bhange on the same grounds. But the Centre wanted Raj Thackeray arrested. Deshmukh and his deputy R.R. Patil, also the home minister, knew they were caught in a bind.

Symbolically, arresting Raj would have sent out the right signals to a city on the edge. Legally, Raj could be arrested only if it could be proved that his statements incited the mobs. This, as judiciary officials maintain, was difficult because his statements were punctuated with enough "ifs and buts". As the state discussed ways and means, Raj was attending the wedding reception of Mumbai police commissioner D.N. Jadhav's daughter and, for good measure, had a DCP come over to his residence to "discuss security". The government knows a dare when it sees one, but initially Deshmukh and Patil were not willing to bite the bullet. On February 7, second-rung leaders of the MNS were arrested. As we go to press, sources at the advocate-general's office were saying that Raj's arrest is "imminent". There was also the small matter of an SLP filed in the SC asking for the MNS's derecognition.

After two years of limited political success, Raj's search for an issue that would catapult him centrestage has ended, predictably, with a loud echo of his uncle's 40-year-old anti-outsider strategy. But is he guilty of more than bigotry, of imitating without understanding the changed contours of the debate? In a globalised city like Mumbai (that now houses only 30 per cent Maharashtrians), who are the outsiders? But Raj's campaign has as much to do with his rivalry with cousin and Shiv Sena working president Uddhav who, uncharacteristically, has been making overtures to northerners in recent weeks. "By demonstrating he is 'more Marathi than thou', Raj feels he can get the Maharashtrian vote," says Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut.

Across the political spectrum, confusion prevailed. The Congress wants to be seen as taking action against Raj—it has to retain the northerners' loyalties and votes—but it's easier said than done since this might spark off more violence. The ncp is fighting for the same parochial political space Raj is, but sees him as a junior partner for future alliances. The Sena hesitatingly came out against Raj, but only to the extent that Balasaheb backed Bachchan. After all, Maharashtrian sentiment is their cornerstone too.

Ethnic north Indians now number an estimated 40 lakh in Mumbai and as Kripa Shankar Singh, Congress MLA and ex-minister, puts it, "no one in Mumbai can ignore them, politically or economically". Through the '90s, the northerner's ability to influence electoral outcomes has steadily gone up. After delimitation, Mumbai and Thane together account for 70 seats in the 228-member legislature. Native Hindi-speaking voters can swing fortunes in 40 of the 70 seats, and about seven of the 10 Lok Sabha seats. "Maharashtra can have any government, but Uttar Bharatiyas will have a hand in that," says Sanjay Nirupam, Sainik-turned-Congressman and a prominent face of this segment.

Political strength also flows from economic might. Between them, north Indians control over 40 businesses and trades that shape the informal economy of India's commercial capital. From real estate badshahs to interior decoration suppliers, from tabelas to retail milk chains across the city, their presence is visible. The joke is that even if half the 'bhaiyyas' leave, the city would shut down. "There will be no milk and newspapers to begin with," says Nirupam.

Economists at Mumbai University agree it would be wrong to view migrants as a burden on the city. V.K. Singh Thakur, the dapper owner and developer of the city's largest townships in the suburb of Kandivili, is understandably aggrieved, "We are not here for fun. We have a presence, and our presence means something to Mumbai." VK, as he is known, is the archetypal example of someone who made it big in Mumbai.

According to Vishwanath Sachdev, ex-editor of the Hindi daily Jansatta, "the Uttar Bharatiya population is part of the composite culture of Mumbai, not a threat to it". Litterateurs from Uttar Pradesh have translated Marathi texts into Hindi, UPwallahs have written, composed and painted in praise of Mumbai. Besides, so many lakhs of Maharashtrians are settled in other states and countries. What if the rage was reversed? Says novelist Kiran Nagarkar, "The collective assertion of identity may be a problem to the Mumbaikar, the original Maharashtrian, but the city's tradition is essentially a multi-hued and composite one."

Maharashtrians are a minority in the city. At a macro-level, the concern is that migrants, mostly those from the other side of the Vindhyas, are being held responsible for the collapse of Mumbai. That Mumbai's infrastructure did not get the push it deserved in the '90s is true, but was that thanks to migrants from the north? Clearly, Raj has his issues mixed up. He should be blaming the past few governments instead, including the one run by the Sena-BJP combine.

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