Hyderabad: The crass attempt by Shiv Sena to intimidate the national award-winning actor, Kangana Ranaut and to demolish her property must be condemned by all those who cherish democracy and rule of law in the country. It is also time to tell the Shiv Sena that it does not own Mumbai and no Indian will grant it the power to issue entry visas for that city. Mumbai belongs to India.
The demolition of the actor's property in Pali Hill area on September 9 with just one-day notice for alleged violations, was preceded by repeated threats by party leaders and the party's goons and warning her against returning to her home in Mumbai from Himachal Pradesh. Among those holding out such threats was the state's Home Minister. In addition, party leaders have hurled filthy abuses at her. If India were to put up with this, the country will bid goodbye to democracy and open itself up to goonda raj.
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Mr. Jairam Thakur has rightly taken up the cudgels on behalf of Ms. Ranaut, and said the attitude of the Maharashtra government is "condemnable" and smacks of vendetta politics. This disrespect to "Himachal's daughter" is intolerable, he says.
With the Shiv Sena deploying the might of the state and the party's goons to browbeat the actor, the Himachal Pradesh government had to urge the Centre to provide her "Y Plus" category security when she returned to Mumbai on September 9.
This should alert the Maharashtra Chief Minister to what lies ahead, because nobody will not tolerate this kind of behaviour by Shiv Sainiks towards citizens hailing from other states.
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The Bombay High Court has rightly rapped the BMC on the knuckles and described the demolition as "deplorable". The court said the action of the municipal corporation "smacks of malafide". The court noted that what the corporation terms as "unauthorised" construction, did not come up overnight.
However, the corporation had suddenly woken up from its slumber, issued notice to Ms. Ranaut when she was out of the city and proceeded with the demolition after granting just 24 hours. All this indicated that the action of the municipal corporation smacked of “malafide”.
The court also noted that the municipal body's lawyer did not appear on time and the municipal commissioner's cell phone was continuously switched off when the court tried to contact him. Meanwhile, the demolition continued. Further, the court wondered whether the municipal corporation would act with "similar swiftness" in respect of other numerous unauthorised constructions.
In its order of September 9, the court has recorded in detail the attempts made by the municipal corporation to stall the hearing and to prevent it from taking cognisance of the petition until it had completed the demolition. This is indicative of the arrogance of the executive and disrespect for the judiciary.
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The Shiv Sena has to be told that they do not own Mumbai. They have lived in this delusion for too long. In fact, around the time the agitation was building up for the creation of a separate Marathi speaking state, the Gujaratis and others who had as much a stake in Bombay (as it was called then) as the Marathi speaking people had made out a strong case for making Bombay a union territory. Since then, the demographics of this city has remained cosmopolitan and despite all the chauvinistic poison Shiv Sena has tried to inject into Mumbai’s body politics, the city has refused to lose its international touch.
In fact, there was a strong argument in favour of making Bombay as a Union Territory in view of its cosmopolitan outlook and strategic location around the time a separate Marathi speaking state was carved out. The President of the Gujarat Research Society submitted a memorandum to the Linguistic Provinces Commission in 1948 on the "Linguistic Limits of Maha Gujarat" and contended that should a Marathi-speaking state become a reality, Bombay should be centrally administered. This commission was appointed by the Constituent Assembly of India to examine the demand for linguistic states.
The memorandum said: "The city of Bombay, its port and suburbs should be formed into a separate self-sufficient province under the central government. Bombay has been an all Indian city with an international outlook and a distinctive non-provincial culture in which people from all provinces of India and even foreigners play their part. ...It would therefore be unfair to transfer an international port like Bombay to the province of Maharashtra where the province is sought to be created on the narrow ground of a provincial language.
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This sentiment holds good even today. Mumbai does not belong to the narrow, crass politicians belonging to the Shiv Sena.
The Shiv Sena is trying to portray Ms. Ranaut as a person who is ill-disposed towards Mumbai, Maharashtra and Marathi people. This is absolutely baseless. The actor has not attacked any of these entities. Her attack is on the Shiv Sena and on the manner in which this party is promoting goonda raj and converting Mumbai, India's most liberal and flourishing city into a garrison of hate. The people of India have not and will never give the keys to the city of Mumbai to the Shiv Sena. Nor is the Sena the sole repository of Chhatrapati Shivaji's legacy. Indians across the world regard Chhatrapati Shivaji as one of the greatest kings India has produced and as the icon of Indian nationalism. He is adored by Indians for his valour and for his invaluable contribution many centuries ago to preserve India's civilisational values. The attempts by the Shiv Sena to appropriate him and reduce him to an icon of Marathi pride must therefore be resisted.
Shiv Sena leaders are also talking about what Mumbai has given to different professionals including actors, directors and others in the cine and television world. They seem to forget what these individuals have given to Mumbai. Bombay alias Mumbai became what it is because the best of talent in business, trade, manufacturing, entertainment and hospitality industries gravitated towards this city, made it their home, invested billions of rupees and generated employment for millions.
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People from different states – Gujarat, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala to name a few - arrived in this city chasing their dreams and made Mumbai what it is today. For example, what would Mumbai business and industry be if you took away the Gujaratis? Or, what would Bollywood be without the Punjabis? The Shiv Sainiks must go back to the drawing board. If they persist with their petty politics, they will antagonise the entire nation.
It is indeed tragic that the Shiv Sena, which stood for firmly for Indian nationalist causes during the life of that firebrand Balasaheb Thackeray should now become a caricature of itself and reduce itself to a "Sonia Sena". If it fails to sober down, many more states and chief ministers will call it out. Bharat Mata will never allow Mumbai, a jewel in her crown to fall into unworthy hands.
