Devidas Deshpande
The late Balasaheb Thackeray had a favourite refrain in his speeches and editorials – “A convert is more fanatic.” Just look at the current government in Maharashtra, and you will see this in practice. A party changed its colours after the assembly elections and came to power, but its government has to tread by surrendering at every step lest its new boss is offended. Its zeal for appeasement is matched to the one recently converted.
Just a couple days after Shiv Sena chief and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray chided the BJP for its insistence on opening temples and claimed to have inherited a true Hindutva ideology, it was put in a tight spot with the Raza Academy raising its head yet again.
Yes, the same notorious Raza Academy! This time, the organisation has begged the international Muslim clerics to issue a fatwa against the French President Macron.
The Raza Academy is hardly known for any good. It is little more than a gang of rioters, and its claim to the bad name was for going berserk in Azad Maidan in Mumbai and vandalising martyr’s memorial as well as attacking women police.
In July this year, the Raza Academy opposed the release of “Muhammad: The Messenger of God”, a 2015 movie directed by Iranian director Mazid Mazidi. Interestingly enough, the movie was from Iran, a proclaimed Islamic country, its director is Muslim, and the viewers were Muslims. The movie was to be released on online platforms.
And yet, a class of people in India developed hurt-burn because of it. So the protests broke out, and the tone for the protest was set by this outfit.
The rude shock came from the Uddhav Thackeray-led government who, in his almost one-year tenure, has set records of appeasement of the extremists. The State’s Home Minister Anil Deshmukh immediately supported the demand and made a written recommendation to the Central Government. “The film is likely to create religious tension and could lead to law and order problems in the country,” Anil Deshmukh said. The Maharashtra Cyber Department also sent a separate letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology seeking a halt to the streaming of the film.
Obviously enough, Dawn Cinema, which was to release the movie, retracted and fundamentalists had one more trophy in their showcase. The point to be noted here is that when Raza Academy carried out it was worst rioting in Mumbai in 2012, the Home Minister belonged to NCP (late R. R. Patil), and today, Deshmukh is repeating the same feat. But how can one blame him? His senior, CM Thackeray, himself sails in that direction.
Shiv Sena, which was carrying the flag of Hindutva on its shoulders till yesterday was suddenly possessed by secularism last year and joined the Congress-NCP camp. From then on, its journey is only on the downhill path. It indulged in many secular somersaults, from saying ‘the gods have left the field’ when temples were closed in Covid-19 time or starting the monthly honorarium for Qazis. The CM, who asked Hindus to celebrate their all festivals at home, keeping a distance and without any inconvenience, was seen begging to Muslims to celebrate the Bakri Eid at home “only if possible”.
The same Raza Academy had taken Muslim women to the streets in Nagpada in Mumbai in January against the CAA. The Mumbai Police repeatedly requested to withdraw their agitation, but these women didn’t budge. Clearly, it intended to create unrest on the lines of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi. So what did CM Thackeray do then? Instead of stopping the protesters, he met Raza Academy officials at a function!
The history of those, with whom Shiv Sena is hobnobbing or rather is trailing behind them, is replete with such incidents. But what about the Shiv Sena? Late Balasaheb spent his life arousing the self-respect of Hindus and opposing the minority appeasement. He was so ardent that he used to say “If you have Dawood, we have Arun Gawli.”
The world came to a standstill during the pandemic. During this period, Hindus celebrated all their festivals strictly following all the rules. On the contrary, all the rules of the government curfew were openly violated in Ramadan. Police and the administration were reduced to being mere spectators. The police were attacked in places like Malegaon.
And Uddhav Thackeray, the son, disciple and political heir of same Balasaheb Thackeray, is forced to beg in front of an utterly nuisance making organisation?
The Marathi pride, which Thackeray and his coterie never tire of invoking, is summarised in a sentence ‘We will break, but not bend’. The present rulers are ready to bend and break also! The latest missive of Raza Academy targeting French President is another mark of this fallibility.
