Why Two Million Chanted “Balasaheb Amar Rahein”
Image courtesy: Raghu Rai
If one goes by the discourse peddled by the “secular” intelligentsia and indeed some on social media, a well-travelled, snooty, socially liberal, free-market loving Colaba/SoBo resident like me should cringe upon everything the Shiv Sena and Balasaheb Thackeray supposedly represent. While there is indeed much that I disagree with – arbitrary roughing up of a few people now and then, disrupting “normal life”, pointless anti Valentine’s Day protests etc, I feel painting people/parties/religions in binary black vs white / good vs evil is inherently riddled with fallacies.
If the media’s and “secular” intelligentsia‘s narrative on Balasaheb Thackeray was indeed true, would you have seen the kind of turnout you did (2 million+ by some estimates) at his funeral yesterday? Some say, success is measured by the number of enemies you have. There’s an addendum: OR the number of people who turn out at your funeral.
Balasaheb was a deeply loved personality and a “father figure” to many (even Rajnikanth has said so, the debate should end right here!). The question is why and one needs to look at history to find all the answers:
1) The trade unions: Back in the 1960s and early 1970s, Communist trade movements had peaked. There were continual strikes and production was gridlocked for months at end. Invariably, both ordinary mill workers and mill-owners suffered. Balasaheb saw an opportunity in this adversity, and worked out a package by reaching out to mill-owners who were more than happy to side with him to crush the Communist trade unions. The mill-workers instantly benefited in the process as production resumed and they had found a new hero. Who knows, Maharashtra’s industry may have permanently grinded to a halt the same way West Bengal’s did, if not for Shiv Sena. Unsurprisingly, Communists and radical socialists continue to bear a grudge against Mr. Thackeray to this day.
2) The underworld: In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, Mumbai was said to be under the tight hold of the “underworld” (code for extorting, gun-toting mafia men). Few films could be made or businesses be run or deals be done without the “blessings” of the Dons. To some, Balasaheb’s resurgence was indeed a new dawn in an era of Dons. A brilliant line in the movie Sarkar (loosely based on his life with some inspiration from Mario Puzo’s Godfather) sums it up best – “When the system fails, a power will rise”. Balasaheb offered all these industries and powerful people protection and once voted to power in 1995, gave the cops a free hand to clean up the mess. Whether killings of these Dons and their henchmen were necessarily “encounters” or not remains a matter of debate by some Human rights activists with selective amnesia in the English media perhaps today. That Mumbai is now largely free from the mafia and why it so is well known and acknowledged by people on the ground.
3) The manoos: Marathis witnessed the dizzying rise of Mumbai and its transformation into a leading cosmopolitan city in front of their eyes. However, it perhaps wouldn’t be a stretch to say that many felt excluded from this process – indeed, how many can afford a decent house in South Mumbai today? They needed someone who would speak up for them and someday give them a share of the pie – rightfully or otherwise. Their Sthaniya Lokhadhikar Samiti – plank for Maharashtrian jobs for Maharashtrians – struck a deep chord with many Marathis and anecdotally their share of new jobs increased. Perhaps the Dalit movement in India is a rough parallel, the upper crest of the society may not necessarily like this, but the feeling of alienation amongst large sections of the poor and the lower middle class in some senses is hard to dismiss. Marathis needed a sense of asmita and Balasaheb was their icon, just as Babasaheb was for the Dalits.
4) The friend in need: Post 6th December 1992, Bombay witnessed retaliatory violence initiated by the Dons which spread far and wide. And “eeth ka jawab” was given with “paththar”. Innocents of one religion were killed at one part of the city and the opposite was done as “revenge” in another part, as Srikrishna Commission Report notes. Mr. Sudhakkaro Naik of the Congress who was the Chief Minister of the time surprisingly isn’t vilified the way Narendra Modi is, for the unfortunate events of 2002. Hindus in Muslim majority areas (Dongri, Mahim, Bandra etc) were supposedly shielded by the Shiv Sainiks and indeed they are credited with saving many lives – whether attack was used as a form of defense, legitimate or otherwise, we wouldn’t know. Many Hindus for once saw someone finally standing up for them and Shiv Sena gained tremendously as a result of this polarization. They were elected to power, along with the BJP, in 1995.
Separately, journalists and film makers who are Kashmiri Pandits (Aditya Raj Kaul, Ashok Pandit for instance) recounted on Twitter how aggrieved families were helped directly by Balasaheb and the Shiv Sena with education and shelter post the Islamic militancy forced exodus of Pandits from Kashmir in 1990.
5) The family elder: In a country where most in the public eye shy away from speaking the truth, the absolute truth and nothing but the truth, Balasaheb was a breath of fresh air as he spoke the truth in the language of the masses. As Kumar Ketkar said on TimesNow – “In public rallies, Balasaheb would openly gossip, mimic and entertain the audience, to establish connect and make them feel as part of the family. He wouldn’t pontificate or talk down, as one sees often today.” He was also supposedly very accessible, down to the junior-most worker. He was the family elder who many never had. How many politicians can stake a claim to playing this role today? The phrase Apan Saheb Gele made many teary eyed every time it was uttered during his funeral, which I attended at Shivaji Park. Their sense of despondency was palpable.
In sum, Balasaheb Thackeray was undoubtedly a polarizing figure – thoroughly despised by some though loved even more so by so many more, as witnessed on Sunday. It is perhaps difficult to fathom how history would judge him over the long run, but that several pages will be written about him goes without saying. He lived like a King and was laid to rest like one.
Balasaheb Amar Rahein!
The writer resides in Mumbai and works as an investment professional at a leading private equity firm. He regularly tweets as @UtsavMitra. Views are personal.
Extremely and extremely one sided. Your lines show how immature you are in understanding and writing politics. Irrespective of what you write and how you categorize Thackeray, he remains a dastard. He is one. He always in search of prey – in 1966 when he started in 2012-when he died. Who knows if only you were born during the times when Mumbaikars were driving others away – read Mitras away you would not have written, Balasahed amar rahe. Thackeray has always been a power hungry man and one who was driven by only power and nothing else. If only he fought for true marathas he would have created and done something for the sons of their soil when he was in power in late 1990s. All ends here! He didnt do anything substantial. It ends here.
Yes, you cant like or hail someone for killing somebody. Your words/lines glorify him. Indians represent peace, Indians represent Non-Violence, Indians represent Gandhigiri. i wonder where has your well-travelled, well-resided and all that gob has while writing. You cant compare Kashmir, Gujarat and anything else with this. If not for an Ayodhya there would have never been a riot at all in India. Go back, look into our history books, except for a few parts in kashmir there was no religious violence whatsoever, ever before. I say, Shiv Sena created an enemy and the entire India is suffering from it and you write Amar Rahe. This shows how communal you are.
May India and our society keep people like you at bay.
To the person who has written ‘Extremely and extremely one sided.’
Whatever axe you have to grind is your problem.
Shall I tell you how it actually is – Indians represent peace, Indians represent Non-Violence, Indians DO NOT represent Gandhigiri.
Gandhi ism was a forced ideal on Bharatiya nationals.
Do you remember ‘Bhagwad Gita’? It does not vilify violence. It preaches – rise up and fight to what is your right. Do you remember Changez Khan turn towards India when he conquered all the way to Europe? No he was scared because we had kings who fought for the right to live peacefully but when war came they did fight valiantly.
People like you are like Barkha Dutt – thieving dalals.
Only if the media reported things without any bias – we would not have had problems like Assaudin Owaisi spouting Jinnahesque diatribes in and outside parliament.
Balasaheb appealed to me too – an upper class 4th generation south Mumbaikar. Surely there was something true about him that bees were attracted towards the nectar he was willing to give.
any leader with a single objective cant satisfy all. but then he looks at the many intead… so i think what he wrote was gud enough based on his literary/fact-oriented research.
after all its a view….
just one q…..how have you impacted the neighborhood…you live in? other tahn expressing your views thru a smartphone…
Very well written post. I had so far (until last week) read a lot of bad press about him. His interviews to TimesNow, and a few posts (Pritish Nandy’s, Sandeep Balakrishna, etc) like these have given a better portrait of the man.
I like him for his blunt, direct way of telling something, and not withdrawing them later. Very few in today’s politics have the guts to stand by their words. He was an exception. Much maligned, and his good side deliberately hidden by media from rest of India. Had he been a Hindi speaking personality, may have really shaken up lot of things. India missed it. Good or bad? Sadly, the judgment will be based on where one stands!
Excellent article. The Shiv Sena isn’t perfect, but they did what needed to be done and what no one was willing to do. In the city, the Shiv Sena is still well regarded, though they’ve lost a lot of their influence over the state.
You’ve made a substantiated argument and there is no denying the fact that he had to have some mass appeal – the following he amassed could not have been purely on the basis of brute power.
But making a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai unsafe for non-Maharashtrians and legitimizing violence – it’s detrimental to India’s growth to support these.
i am a kannadiga but i wil say he is god to us..
Its an extremely disappointing article . It shows that education does not and will never help us to rise above our petty opinions . I want the writer of this article to answer that does he justify the beating up and harassing of the biharis by the shivsena or the stupid and non constructive protests on the valentines . Who has asked shivsena to raise the cause of marathis ?? This is India which has from times immemorial assimilated all cultures and regions beautifully into it . I think it is one of the saddest articles as it comes from someone up the social order in terms of intellect. Today we are thanking shivsena for not rioting mumbai . for not beating up northies in their own country . for not creating ruckus on death of a cow .
Constructive and progressive times indeed !!!
and fyki mr. writer people came to his funeral because of fear and not respect. you need to understand sanatan dharma and india and hinduism to actually appreciate what real indianism is . IT is far different from what these so called right wing suggests
I had tears in my eyes watching Balasaheb funeral sitting miles away from my country. That is the bonding and connection towards him. Your article are real facts and appreciate for the findings in details. Everyone has got there opinion to make and commenting on web is far more easy . When tiger is in the cage people put moongfali but when in open people get pissed out.
Do always write good things.