THACKERAY, A CLOSE ALLY OF THE CAPITALISTS Vidyadhar Date Reprinted from Rediffmail, Published on 29th November 2012, with the authors permission. 29 / 427 ‘Many people are in awe of the power Liberals have often criticised Thackeray wielded by Thackeray. I found that even R for his communalism, hate speeches K Laxman shared this feeling though both and chauvinism; and rightly so. But he and Thackeray began as cartoonists in his lifetime and after, there is little in the 1940s.' recognition of the fact that he was a close ally of the capitalists. 'See how far ahead Thackeray has gone. And here I am,' he told me one day in All over the world, capitalists have a sad tone,' recalls Vidyadhar Date always needed an army of people to who assesses Balasaheb Thackeray's terrorise others, especially dissenters. political legacy. The Shiv Sena was seen as a solid ally. There is justifiable and widespread anger over the recent arrest of two girls Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, for their Facebook post on in the wake who passed away November 17, was of Thackeray's death. essentially a man liked by capitalists, who were very comfortable with him. But there is little recognition of the That is why he was boosted by most politically-directed violence of the media outlets during his lifetime. After Shiv Sena. his death, there has been more gushing praise of the man. It began in 1970 with the murder of Krishna Desai, a Communist member of Thackeray's father Prabodhankar was the Maharashtra legislative assembly. an avid Shakespeare fan; he spent so That was the defining act of the Shiv much from his scare resources on books Sena. It showed where it stood. It was that it alarmed his mother. He devoted a a well measured and well thought out lot of his time to researching in libraries. attack on the Left movement, which was fairly strong then. Thackeray was unlike his father in many ways. Prabodhankar was a The murder aroused few protests from rationalist, an activist and a supporter beyond the Communist fold then. Few of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Ambedkar remember it today though it should and social reformer Jyotirao Phule. serve as a warning for all time to come. He also wrote several books. But how many people remember Prabodhankar When it comes to confronting Fascists Thackeray today? and hoodlums and the wealthy and the imperialists, there is noticeable timidity Bal Thackeray had little use for and inactivity on the part of intellectuals. serious books. 428 / 29 THACKERAY, A CLOSE ALLY OF THE CAPITALISTS Martin Niemoller, a German activist In his book Rebel Cities, he shows how clergyman, warned against this cities can be a harbinger of protest and inactivity when drawing attention to the change as in the case of the Occupy Nazi threat in Germany with his famous Movement in the United States. line, 'If you do not act when others are attacked, there will be no one to protect Unfortunately, Thackeray intervened you if you are attacked.' little on behalf of the poor though the poor Marathi Manoos was his There is a conspicuous omission in the main electoral plank. His talk seldom gushing obituaries about Thackeray matched his practice when it came to of the Shiv Sena's role in attacking the crux of the matter. working people's movements. As a young journalist, I still remember But then how does one explain veteran Bhalchandra Marathe of the the phenomenal response to his Free Press Journal recalling what one of funeral procession? Krishna Desai's assassins had said. This question has been aptly asked He said he thrust the knife and then on Facebook by John Game, a British turned the handle because that would citizen, who has done field work in really rupture the interior organs. It was Mumbai. A staunch leftist himself, he a murder most foul. says we should realise that the Shiv Sena also did some service to citizens. Thackeray's role has to be seen in the context of the way cities are being True, Thackeray channelised people's reshaped the world over to serve the frustration and economic hardships, interests of the rich and to exclude but he did it in a very negative way, by the poor. reinforcing prejudices and encouraging violence and threats. Often, the poor David Harvey, one of the most eminent were the victims, as in the case of those thinkers of urban life, economics and who were seen as outsiders. The rich politics, is our best guide to understand had little to fear from him. the issue. He asserts that ordinary people should get a right to the city, He was expected to halt the gentrification access its services and shape its of Mumbai and the eviction of the poor development. It should be seen as a through physical and financial coercion. fundamental right. He has been called a tiger, an emperor, 29 / 429 king of Mumbai and what not. Why The mill once belonged to Laxmanrao was this king then so powerless to help Apte, the father of former Test the poor? cricketer Madhav Apte, very much a Marathi Manoos. The most blatant and glaring example of the Shiv Sena's role is evident in front The Aptes were so affluent that they of the Shiv Sena Bhavan in the heart owned a bungalow on Peddar Road, of Dadar. which has now been converted into the swanky Woodlands apartments in You just cannot miss it. A high-rise, south Mumbai. glass covered, environment-unfriendly structure is coming up there. From this Had the big plot of Kohinoor mill under-construction building, hundreds remained vacant, the government of people staked out to watch the would not have had to hunt for space funeral procession. to build a memorial for Thackeray, as is now being vociferously demanded by The land belonged to the Kohinoor the Sena. Textile Mill of the National Textile Corporation. Anyone would expect But then it is so much easier to prey on a party, speaking on behalf of the public resources. So there is a demand Marathi Manoos, to demand that it be that the memorial be constructed on used as a public space in a city which Shivaji Park, one of the few big open desperately needs more of that. spaces in the city. Strangely, it was bought for hundreds One can only hope that the memorial of crores of rupees and the buyers is environment-friendly, not a gigantic were Raj Thackeray, former Shiv Sena structure of cement and concrete. leader and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder and Unmesh Joshi, son Thackeray comprehensively reversed of former Shiv Sena chief minister the liberal tradition of Maharashtra. Manohar Joshi. Incidentally, Mahatma Gandhi's guru Raj Thackeray is said to have made was Gopal Krishna Gokhale and his a huge profit by selling his stake, as favourite disciple was Vinoba Bhave -- reported by The Economic Times, on both Maharashtrians. November 15, 2009. Thackeray bore the title of Senapati, a military general, and acted ruthlessly. 430 / 29 THACKERAY, A CLOSE ALLY OF THE CAPITALISTS A very different Senapati from of corporate interests -- on the front Maharashtra was Senapati Pandurang page of The Economic Times on Mahadev Bapat -- a highly respected November 19. Gandhian who opted for the path of peaceful struggle after studying 'My late uncle Ramakrishna Bajaj was in England and learning how to a good friend of Balasaheb. When assemble bombs. parliamentary elections were taking place, both Balasaheb and my uncle Bapat led the world's first struggle were anti-Communist. Though the against the construction of a dam -- the ideology of the Congress and the Shiv Mulshi satyagraha against the takeover Sena was not common, they maintained of the land of Mavlas, poor peasants a good rapport,' he says. whose forefathers were the backbone of Shivaji's guerilla army -- in 1921. It was a time when anti-Left organisations were floated in different parts of the The practice of pillaging the land of the country in the wake of the debacle of poor has now been revived - as recently the Congress in the elections. seen in Singur, West Bengal. The land of the Mavlas is now being overrun Many people are in awe of the power and vandalised by the rich and being wielded by Thackeray. I found that turned into fancy townships. even the highly-respected cartoonist R K Laxman, my senior colleague at The Shiv Sena has not uttered a word The Times of India, shared this feeling, against this, though it speaks all the time though both he and Thackeray began in the name of Shivaji, as it is politically as political cartoonists in the Free Press convenient and easy to exploit. Journal in the 1940s. And the Shiv Sena does nothing to stop "See how far ahead Thackeray has the complete removal of working class gone. And here I am," he told me one history and heritage. day in a sad tone. Most political analysis and academic That was the one time I could not agree work overlooks the cosy relationship with Laxman. between the Sena and capitalists. But here is a surprise. One can read between the lines in an article eulogising Thackeray, by Rahul Bajaj - Chairman of the Bajaj Group and an articulate spokesman 29 / 431 Now some consolation can be taken condemning the attack on the freedom from the public outcry in support of of expression, The Maharashtra Times freedom of expression in the wake of criticised Ranade in an editorial. the girls' arrest. There was little of this in the past.