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| August 07, 2000 | ||
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| RIGHT ANGLE By Means Foul And Fair Arresting Thackeray didn't show our liberals in a flattering light By Swapan Dasgupta
In a sense it is understandable that the Shiv Sena chief arouses such passionate hatred. Both in word and deed, he epitomises everything the liberal finds absolutely repugnant. Bolstered by their chief's penchant for calling a spade a spade, his Sainiks have repeatedly terrorised ordinary citizens and sullied Mumbai's image as an easy-going, cosmopolitan city. Thackeray, it is widely acknowledged, is a blustering bully, viciously communal, intensely parochial and openly contemptuous of all democratic niceties. He is everything the wholesome liberal is not. To them, he is the "other". Yet, consider the reality. Thackeray isn't some shadowy creature of the night, a Mogambo-type don who hides behind concealed doors and secret passages. Without exaggeration, Thackeray is Mumbai's first citizen. Whether it is the mahurat of a film, a felicitation of R.K. Laxman or any event of consequence, Thackeray is the preferred choice as chief guest. The beautiful people clamour to get themselves photographed with him and these are not-so-discreetly flaunted in silver frames in their offices and homes. Sanjay Dutt took his help in getting out of a sticky situation and Lara Dutta made Matoshri her first port of call in Mumbai. Thackeray, it would seem, constitutes the ultimate stamp of legitimacy and approval. So, why this bewildering hypocrisy? If Thackeray is a despicable creature unworthy of even being granted bail, why isn't he made a social and political pariah? Why must those who organise photo opportunities of beauty queens utilise the occasion to surreptitiously whisper to the prime minister that arresting Thackeray would be a good idea? If our liberals are so infuriatingly sanctimonious and principled, why are they such colossal funks? Thackeray is said to be a coward in dread of spending a night in a smelly lock-up. But at least he doesn't shy away from his forthright views. So why can't our liberals be more like Thackeray? Why must they fall back on trivial technicalities and plain illegalities to settle their aesthetic scores? What happened in Mumbai last week was shameful. It was outrageous that Sainiks threatened retribution on the streets and created a great fear. But equally despicable was the willingness of the conscience-keepers of secularism to bend the rules to fight fascism. Those with long memories will remember it was precisely this argument the Communists and progressives around Indira Gandhi used to justify the Emergency. Fight fascism by all means. But not by means and methods culled from the other side. Before taking on Thackeray, our liberals must first develop a spine. |
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There are at least a dozen
compelling reasons why Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee should have dispensed with the services of Ram
Jethmalani as law minister. Forcefully arguing in public
against the Maharashtra Government's prosecution of Shiv
Sena chief Bal Thackeray wasn't one of them. Yet, far
more than for his misjudgement in the MS Shoes case, his
spat with the Chief Justice of India and Attorney-General
Soli Sorabjee, and his overall maverick temperament, the
liberal classes pilloried him for this so-called offence.
So what if Jethmalani's argument was unhesitatingly
upheld in the Metropolitan Magistrates Court of Mumbai?
When it comes to Thackeray, India's powerful liberal
establishment loses sight of rationality, common sense
and even the rule of law. It would rather put Thackeray
into a padded cell and throw the key into the Arabian Sea,
even if that violates every principle it swears by.