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``Ek Bihari, Sau Bimari,'' The Rabid Editorial Said By Bal Thackeray

Upping the antinorth Indian ante in a bid to keep rival Raj Thackeray from running away with the Marathi chauvinism plank, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in a provocative editorial in party organ Saamna said Biharis were not wanted anywhere in the country, be it Maharashtra or Punjab or Assam.

``Ek Bihari, sau bimari,'' the rabid editorial said, quoting from what it claimed was an SMS doing the rounds in Punjab. ``The UP-Bihari MPs have shown their ingratitude towards Mumbai and Maharashtra with their anti-Marathi tirade in Parliament. Those who criticized Maharashtrians in Parliament do not have a clean image. Some of them are even history sheeters.''

Political observers say the anti-migrant rhetoric is nothing but a political battle between Shiv Sena and the rebel Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to consolidate the sonsof-the-soil vote in Mumbai and Thane, which together have the largest chunk of 60 seats in the assembly. The immigrant bogey raised by the two parties also flies in the face of data collected by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which shows the migrant influx to Mumbai has come down over the last 30 years, with the stream being diverted to new townships like Nashik, Pune and Chiplun.

Deshmukh seeks legal opinion on action against Bal Thackeray

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By Dr arvind, Section Araria Group
Posted on Thu Mar 06, 2008 at 04:47:18 AM EST

Deshmukh seeks legal opinion on action against Bal Thackeray
The `Saamana' piece by Sena chief Bal Thackeray against Biharis triggered protests in Patna even as Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar called for dousing racial hostilities. Angry groups burnt effigies of the two Thackerays. Nitish called for a meeting of politicians from Bihar and Maharashtra to discuss the invective-laden assault on Biharis. The `Saamna' piece also provoked angry reactions in Parliament on Wednesday with a privilege motion being moved against Thackeray by RJD MP Devendra Yadav. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said the Shiv Sena chief's remarks amounted to contempt of the House. The opinion piece, which makes nephew Raj's migrant invective sound tame by comparison, has caused further confusion in the Maharashtra Congress leadership, which has been severely criticized for not taking swift action against Raj.
Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is in Delhi, called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the latest outburst. Sources said that Deshmukh, who has been instructed to ``handle the situation with a firm hand'', has already asked his home department to seek legal opinion on what action should be taken.
Thackeray's comments come in the wake of Supreme Court strictures against Raj for his anti-national attitude and the Mumbai police gagging him from making any more inflammatory speeches. At the Centre, the Congress has been under tremendous pressure from its alliance partners such as the RJD to crack down on Raj Thackeray. Now, the chief ministers of several northern states are also demanding that immediate action be taken against Bal Thackeray.
In what appeared to be the playing out of factional politics, PCC chief Prabha Rau, when asked about the tension over North Indians, said the chief minister was busy in his son's wedding for a few days and would now handle the situation. Though it appeared a sarcastic comment, the CM played it down, saying it was natural for all family persons to be busy on such occasions. He said as the issue concerned an editorial, it had to be examined carefully.

Mumbai city Congress chief Gurudas Kamat strongly condemned Thackeray's statement. He said that the ``gutter language used not only proves that Thackeray has not changed over the years but that for political mileage he is ready to go to any length to incite violence''. He also condemned the so-called support given by film stars Salman Khan, Sunil Shetty and Nana Patekar, all of whom had criticised the gag order imposed on Raj Thackeray by the Mumbai police.

Sociologists point out that Maharashtra has always provided jobs for both skilled and unskilled migrants. In the late 1970s and 1980s, it was a much sought-after and investmentfriendly state because of the availability of cheap labour and a liberal political leadership. The volatile political atmosphere of the last month has adversely affected the industrial climate in the state, said a top government official.

Source: TOI, March-06-2008

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