Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: IND31794 Country: India Date: 18 May 2007 Keywords: India – Muslims – Shiv Sena – Internal relocation – State protection – Extortion – Police This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Questions 1. Please provide up to date information on the Shiv Shena party led initially by Bal Thackeray and now by his son Uddhav Thackeray. 2. Please advise in particular what states/areas in India it has influence and the degree of its influence. 3. Please advise in what states it has no or little influence. 4. Do they target Muslims for acts of violence? In what circumstances? 5. Do the police provide protection from these attacks? 6. Does the level of protection vary depending on which state they occur? 7. What states in India have large Muslim populations? 8. When a person moves state in India what requirements are there to register with authorities in the new state, particularly for those running a business? RESPONSE 1. Please provide up to date information on the Shiv Shena party led initially by Bal Thackeray and now by his son Uddhav Thackeray. RRT Research Response IND30381 provides background information on Shiv Sena to August 2006 (RRT Country Research 2006, Research Response ind30381, 10 August – Attachment 1). Research Response IND30864 updates this to November 2006 (RRT Country Research 2006, Research Response IND30864, 7 November – Attachment 2). Shiv Sena faced a succession crisis in 2005 as Uddhav and Raj Thackeray fought to succeed Bal Thackeray. The party itself has changed directions many times in its 41 year history: Bal Thackeray began to aggressively monetise the Shiv Sena’s network of shakhas (branches) only in the 1980s when the party’s growth began to threaten its old promoters — the Congress. Having profitably lent his muscle to the Congress for decimating the Communists in Mumbai, Thackeray needed to find his own funds henceforth. The Sikh community in Mumbai was among the first to show Thackeray the benefits of communal profiling. While Sikhs and their establishments were burnt in northern India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984, prominent businessmen of the community in Mumbai lined up before Thackeray to tie up cash for peace deals. … Tasting success with the Sikhs, Thackeray’s boys went on to map out clusters of mercantile communities like the Gujaratis, Sindhis, Marwaris and Bohri Muslims across Mumbai with the precision of today’s market researchers. After stoning a few symbolic shop windows, thugs from the Shiv Sena took to sending out pre-printed receipts smug in the knowledge that envelopes filled with the requisite cash would be waiting for them. … The past two decades have seen shakha pramukhs emerge as businessmen in their own right controlling cable television networks, restaurants and bars across the state. The Shiv Sena’s five years in power in Maharashtra also allowed many of them move up the party hierarchy and emerge as major government contractors. The new-found prosperity, however, began to dull the risk-taking abilities of the Shiv Sena’s leaders. As Thackeray’s supplicant-turned-foe Narayan Rane showed last month, the newly designer-clad shakha pramukhs were the first to turn tail when the police set up on them for trying to break the rebels’ protest meet. Rather than take on the police in pitched battles, all of them returned home after the mandatory televised show of fealty for the Thackerays. The boys, grown men now, realise that the ageing Bal Thackeray has nothing more than his charisma and the fear inspired by the Shiv Sena brand of terror to offer by way of equity to his franchisees. No big idea has come from the Thackeray household and the best managers of the Shiv Sena are moving over to greener pastures (Kumar, S, ‘Shiv Sena hold weakens’ 2005, The Tribune, 23 August http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050823/edit.htm – Accessed 20 June 2006- Attachment 3). In March 2006 the nephew of Bal Thackeray defected and formed his own party (‘Indian rebel Shiv Sena leader launches new political party’ 2006, Doordarshan DDTV news channel, 9 March, CISNET India CX149058 – Attachment 4). THE MONOLITH that Bal Thackeray assiduously built over 39 years seems to be crumbling before his very eyes. In the last six months, the Shiv Sena seems to have gone into a self- destruct mode. And the best efforts of its founder and leader are not working to stop the decline. … The failure to secure a majority in the 2004 elections, having already lost in 2000, set in motion the process of disintegration that has not stopped. Present indications would suggest that even Mr. Bal Thackeray‘s intervention cannot heal the deep divide (Sharma, K, ‘All in the family’ 2005, The Hindu, 19 August http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/19/stories/2005081905901100.htm – Accessed 20 June 2006 – Attachment 5). In 2007 the party regained a seat at a by-election following the defection of one of its MP’s (‘Lesson for Cong in Sena victory’ 2007, The Telegraph, 13 April http://www.telegraphindia.com//1070413/asp/nation/story_7640585.asp – Accessed 26 April 2007 – Attachment 6). And in early 2007, it retained control of the Mumbai City Council, despite losing seats (Bavadam, L. ‘Mumbai on a platter’ 2007, Frontline, 10 February, http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2403/stories/20070223002103400.htm – Accessed 16 May 2007 – Attachment 7). After the July 2006 bombings in Mumbai, there was no resulting communal violence, which the Hindu stated was in part due to the split in Shiv Sena: MUMBAI HAS not seen a serious communal conflagration since the post-Babri Masjid 1992- 93 riots. The absence of a riot does not mean there has been no communal tension. But for a variety of reasons, the tension between communities has been restricted or contained within certain areas and has not spread to the entire city. This is something that has to be noted, not necessarily to be celebrated. With the on-going investigations into the July 11 serial bomb blasts, the question about whether communal tensions could once again surface and come out in the open is being debated. Some feel that the anger in the minority community, which comprises over 17 per cent of Mumbai’s population, is boiling over and some of it has found expression in the men suspected of having participated directly, or having assisted indirectly in the bomb blasts. ... What is clear is that in a city as large and diverse as Mumbai, there are bound to be pockets where fear and resentment fester as neighbours are picked up, detained and sometimes arrested. But none of this necessarily adds up to a communal flare-up. … There are several reasons for this conclusion. One, there is no political party to exploit the situation the way the Shiv Sena was able to do in the past. The Sena is divided and has split up. As a result, despite highly provocative editorials in the party mouthpiece Saamna, there is no response or reaction (Sharma, K, ‘Why Mumbai escaped a flare-up’, 2006 The Hindu, 5 August http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/05/stories/2006080504921100.htm – Accessed 9 August 2006 – Attachment 8). The public statements by Shiv Sena echo this: Leaders of India’s hardline Hindu Shiv Sena party said they had been overwhelmed by the Muslim response. “Hindus and Muslims walked hand in hand yesterday,“ said Manohar Kargaonkar, a Shiv Sena official. “When you read a newspaper you always find that a Muslim terrorist is behind subversive activity. But these people have shown what brotherhood is.“ Analysts and community leaders say weariness after decades of conflict as well as rising prosperity from the country’s booming economy have helped cool tempers between Hindus and Muslims (Majumdar, B. ‘Muslims give blood to Hindu victims’ 2006 Dawn website, source: Reuters, 13 July http://www.dawn.com/2006/07/13/int15.htm – Accessed 9 August 2006 – Attachment 9). 2. Please advise in particular what states/areas in India it has influence and the degree of its influence. 3. Please advise in what states it has no or little influence. 4. Do they target Muslims for acts of violence? In what circumstances? 5. Do the police provide protection from these attacks? 6. Does the level of protection vary depending on which state they occur? The UK Home Office in its Country of Origin Information Report stated that: Shiv Sena (Shiva’s Army) A member of the NDA and more hard-line than the BJP, Shiv Sena is based in Mumbai (Bombay), the capital of Maharashtra State. [5l] An important ally of the BJP. [32dh] Shiv Sena is described as an ultra-nationalistic Hindu party based in Maharasthra state with a powerful presence in Mumbai, headed by one of India’s most controversial and militant right- wing leaders, Bal Thackeray: “Over the years, the party has acquired a reputation of promoting religious and ethnic chauvinism while targeting minorities, especially Muslims. An important ally of the BJP, the western state of Maharashtra remains the Shiv Sena’s main support base where it formed its first government in 1995.“ [32dh] (UK Home Office 2007, Country of Origin Information Report: India, 11 May – Attachment 10). The Home Office also reports that its activists are not above the law: Militants from the Hindu extremist Shiv Sena party raided offices of a national television channel in Mumbai on 8 February and four people were arrested in connection with the attack.