BLOWING HOT and COLD Members, There Is Nothing on Record
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
REGIONS ASHESH SHAH ■ SHIV SENA but at the same time take action against offenders. “I also hear and read what is happening but I have to go by the record. About the Thackeray family BLOWING HOT AND COLD members, there is nothing on record. On what basis do I take action?” he asks. Sources close to Joshi say he may even Strains appear within Thackeray’s fiefdom over policies resign if these pressures become too and personalities as accusations of impropriety multiply much to handle. “All the recent inci- dents (the extortion cases) affect both the Government and the party. Our im- By SMRUTI KOPPIKAR cern about extortions.” He admitted age is getting sullied,” says a senior that several instances had been cabinet minister. HE SHIV SENA SAGA IN MA- brought to his notice. Besides, media- harashtra reads like a gripping persons who exposed the extortion OR the Shiv Sena, which turned family drama: an aging patri- rackets have been abused and threat- 31 last month, the troubles Tarch defending his painstak- ened in the columns of Saamna. Fcouldn’t have come at a worse ingly built empire; one son trying to ex- Thackeray, however, dismisses all these time. Right now the party is aiming to tend the empire and its clout; the other charges (see interview). In the recent extend its influence into hitherto un- undermining its credibility with his past, he has lived through several per- charted regions. Last November it held irresponsible behaviour; and another sonal setbacks—wife Meenatai passed a two-day conference of state chiefs in young man from the clan trying to away last year, he himself had to be Mumbai where Uddhav, Thackeray’s carve out a portion of the empire that he hospitalised for a coronary bypass youngest son and heir apparent, out- believes is his. surgery last January, and three months lined grand plans for the party’s Bal Thackeray, the ailing Shiv Sena ago, his son Bindumadhav died in a expansion in other states. “It was a very chief who revels in roles as varied as car- motor accident. encouraging conference. We needed to toonist, Muslim-baiter and right-wing As the incidents involving family assess our strengths and move ahead,” rabble-rouser, is now compelled to play members occupied the front pages of says Uddhav Thackeray. an altogether different role: he must Mumbai dailies, opposition members It was Uddhav who first realised shield his family and fiefdom from de- put the Government on the mat for al- that if the party looked beyond the bor- manding public scrutiny. That people leged cover-up attempts. Says Chhagan ders of Maharashtra, it would have to expect the government he installed in Bhujbal, Congress MLC and the Sena’s change its native and street-level char- Maharashtra 15 months ago to censure bete noire ever since he defected four acter. It roped in professionals and the family’s alleged felonious acts only years ago: “Children of leaders have non-Maharashtrians as power-brokers. makes it worse for the patriarch. Little begun to summon builders and indus- Suresh Prabhu, a banker who served wonder then, in the past few weeks trialists to coerce them into unfair as industry minister in the shortlived Thackeray has been engaged in a major deals. It can’t go on.” BJP government at the Centre, is an Ud- damage-control exercise. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi is in a dhav acolyte. As is Mukesh Patel, a Consider these: a cable operator is ar- most unenviable position: he must Thackeray at his Mumbai Gujarati businessman who was elected rested for threatening a property owner abide by the wishes of his political boss residence: troubled patriarch to the Rajya Sabha on a Sena ticket last at Thackeray’s elder son Jaidev’s apart- year and now wields considerable clout ment; nephew Raj’s name is invoked by with the Thackerays. some Sainiks who kidnap a south Mum- INTERVIEW ■ BAL THACKERAY leave what is in one’s hand and go after during the British Raj also. But isn’t it The Sena’s attempts to broadbase bai resident because he refused to sell an what is not there. We don’t want that. better than burning one’s wife in the the party received a boost when it won apartment; three Sena unit chiefs are ar- Q. But you wooed Shankersinh tandoor of a restaurant, like the Con- 15 seats in the last Lok Sabha elec- rested for blackening the face of Haffkine “The BJP need not worry” Vaghela. Will he join the Sena? gressman did? The Shiv Sainiks did tions—up 11 from the previous polls. Biotech Institute Director Vishwanath A. I will not commit any sin that not put Yemul into the tandoor, they What added to the satisfaction, say se- Yemul—for long the target of calumny IN recent times, the Shiv Sena chief’s fa- connected with that incident. That will help the Congress to come back to only blackened his face. nior leaders, was that in the process the in the party newspaper Saamna; Sainiks mous temper has been directed against man Pujari who was arrested (in power in Gujarat or any other state. Q. So the Shiv Sainiks will agitate Sena successfully penetrated sugar- blacken the face of a senior official of anyone who has dared to criticise or ques- Jaidev’s flat) is a cable operator. He can When my alliance partner is ruling in like this against everything? rich western Maharashtra, thus far Nippon Denro Limited, G. Mammutty, to tion the deeds of the Thackeray clan. And do something outside and come visit- Gujarat, I will not be so foolish. So, the A. If the Government doesn’t re- considered a Congress stronghold. The force him to employ locals; a Mumbai some of his utterances have even threat- ing as cable operator. What can we do? BJP need not have sleepless nights. spond to problems as it should, the party also made inroads into Jalgaon in resident, Ramesh Kini, is found dead un- ened to push the Sena-BJP Government in Q. But why should your family be Q. You frequently express dissatis- party has to work. The agitational northern Maharashtra, a BJP bastion, der mysterious circumstances in Pune. Maharashtra to the brink. Thackeray targeted? faction with the Manohar Joshi mood should not die down. when Joshi convinced Sureshdada Jain, According to a note he left behind, Raj spoke to Principal Correspondent SMRUTI A. There is lot of politics. Our Government. Isn’t it demoralising? Q. Are there no contradictions an influential businessman and politi- had been forcing him to part with a flat KOPPIKAR. Excerpts: rivals envy the rise of the Shiv Sena. A. No, it gives them direction. between the two? cian, to join the Sena. He was rewarded in central Mumbai. Yesterday’s cartoonist becomes a They are going on the right track but A. None at all. I am the chief of the with a cabinet berth. Though the Gov- As charges of extortion and land- Q. People say that the Sena’s im- powerful leader, and so on. It’s all a a little check has to be there, what you party and Joshi is the chief of the Gov- ernment’s inept handling of the grabbing in the name of the age has taken a beating following stomach ache for them. And I don’t call remote-control. I have to do this ernment. He has to behave as the chief sugarcane glut and cotton monopoly Thackerays became a political issue, press reports about the incidents in- have any remedy for their diarrhoea. because it’s my moral responsibility. minister, and I as the Shiv Sena chief. purchase scheme did not impress local last fortnight the Sena-BJP Government volving Jaidev and Raj. Q. Your relationship with the BJP Q. Your cadres blackened Haffkine I am free to kick anybody. barons, there is growing evidence that was compelled to set up a special police A.These are all canards against my is strained. Is a parting of ways im- Institute Director V. Yemul’s face. Q. Even your chief minister? the Sena has hit the Congress where it cell to handle such cases in Mumbai, family by a pro-Pawar press. Raj has minent? What kind of a message does it send? A. No, the chief minister is differ- hurts the most. Pune and Kolhapur. Said Gopinath clarified his position. Jaidev’s position A. No, that can’t happen. The A.This is what we call agitation— ent. He is a very clever person, I won’t For the moment, though, Thack- Munde, deputy chief minister and is also being clarified...that he is not alliance will not break. It is foolish to in a very dignified way. We did this have to do that to him. eray dismisses all talk of the Sena’s home minister: “I share the public con- cross-border ambitions.“I want to solve 000 INDIA TODAY ← MARCH 00, 1996 MARCH 00, 1996 ← INDIA TODAY 000 REGIONS the problems of Maharashtra first,” he ■ POWER STRUCTURE says. But last month the Sena tried to make a surreptitious entry into Gu- jarat with its overtures to dissident BJP The Sena Point Men leader Shankersinh Vaghela, which kicked up a storm. The Sena has not ASHESH SHAH closed its options yet, though Thack- MANOHAR JOSHI: The Maharash- eray is aware that entertaining tra chief minister started off as a Vaghela would mean jeopardising an businessman and is one of the founder already uneasy alliance with the BJP.