The reason:
Shahrukh Khan, the film’s hero, had innocently said that Pakistani players should have been allowed to play in IPL-III. Shiv Sena thought otherwise and decided to protest. They as usual have threatened to hold a Sena-type protest i.e. destroying public property and resorting to mass scale hooliganism and vandalism.
Resorting to violence is not new to Sena. Their leaders i.e. the Thackreys have always liked to hit and make their point. They actually don’t know any other way to make them known. Right now they are in a corner. They have lost the elections again even though the incumbent government fared really poor in the last term. Nephew Raj has floated a new party, the dreaded MNS, which works on the same lines and is eating into their vote share. {The immediate beneficiary of this catfight is Congress & NCP. Almost half of the Mumbai MPs in this Loksabha election won by very thin margins thanks to MNS! } Balasaheb had taken a vow, in 2004, not to cut his beard until BJP-Sena won the assembly elections. He has to wait at least another 5 years for that. Add to that losing important leaders like Chhagan Bhujabal & Narayan Rane. Now even BJP has openly decided to leave the coalition. So, Sena needs issues to stay in limelight. What to do! That is how their style of politics runs. People will forget them otherwise and they know that.
From the very beginning the party’s motto has been very regional or specifically local i.e. Mumbai is for Marathis! So, sometimes they protest against the Madrasis, sometimes Bengalis and lately North Indians. Pakistanis have been their favourite as well (They tried to blow them up in 1993!). Lately they have been interested in Australians as well.
Now coming to the MNIK issue.
Even before SRK went against Sena’s diktat, Sachin Tendulkar, Mukesh Ambani & RSS had crossed their lines as well. They all voiced that Mumbai is for all Indians! Now that is going to irritate a Marathi loving party. But Sachin is himself an ardent Marathi Mumbaikar, the most famous and most revered actually. So, he was just reprimanded. Ambani was also left out. RSS chief is again Marathi. But this time Sena lashed at Ram Madhav, a North Indian. A little scuffle happened but calmed down. And then SRK praised the Pakistanis! {He has Wasim Akram as his team’s bowling coach. God knows what happens to it! Many of us actually want to see the likes of Afridi, Malik, Asif & Aamer in action!} That was enough for the Senamen! They started burning effigies, posters and then decided to boycott the movie. They even termed him as traitor and even pulled other Khans into it {It was not the ingenious idea of US authorities to stop SRK at Newark airport then! Khan is a taboo word in Sena dictionary from time eternal}. But Rahul Gandhi’s whirlwind Mumbai tour just swept the feet out of Sena. He travelled in a local train! Goddamnit nobody in Sena, leave alone doing it, has ever thought about it even in their dreams. Even SRK gave some reconciling tweets. Sena decided to drop the issue. All seemed calm. Everyone was happy from SRK to financiers to the common spectator. But Mr. Pawar, after suggesting us to drop sugar from our tea, went to meet Balasaheb. What tea he drank there and what the hell he mixed in Balasaheb’s tea is beyond us! But the next day MNIK destruction tirade was back in action! Maratha unity’s great example!
Pawar said that he wanted the cooperation of Sena for smooth conduct of IPL-III. Good intention! But my question is why he went to Matoshri? He should have gone to the Mantralay. Isn’t it where Maharashtra is ruled from! Sometimes seeing the way our politicians reel around Balasaheb, it seems that Subhash Nagre’s (Sarkar) resemblance with Balasaheb goes much beyond the looks! He actually rules Mumbai. And he has proved again. No multiplex owner has garnered courage to stand against his diktat. The repeated offer of security and help by the state government has gone unheeded. Some have even said that the police fail to do anything when Sena attacks.
I’m not chaperoning Sena policies but the truth lies that everyone is afraid of the attacks. It’s high time when we have to shed our inhibitions and stand up against Senamen. It’s us who have to do everything as the government is going to be a mute spectator even if they come and destroy the whole mantralay. In Vidarbha, the Senamen fail to inspire as people here don’t pay much attention to them. Same treatment has to be meted to them elsewhere as well. Otherwise they will continue to take out their petty frustrations on different issues. Today it’s SRK, tomorrow it can be anyone. If required let’s give them the taste of their own music.
नफरत जो सिखाये वो धर्म तेरा नहीं है |
इंसान को जो रौंदे वो कदम तेरा नहीं है |
Let’s believe in these lines by Sahir Ludhiyaanvi and try to live them. Let’s stop these divisionalists or else we have to suffer like this forever! Let’s uphold the sovereignty and integrity of our country and make ‘Free India’ a reality that our forefathers dreamt of.इंसान को जो रौंदे वो कदम तेरा नहीं है |
In the end I quote from Nikhat Kazmi’s review of MNIK in ‘The Times of India’:
But eventually it’s Rizwan Khan who walks out with you, branding the fundamentalists as ‘liars’ and telling all those who doubt his integrity: “My Name Is Khan and I am not a terrorist, a non-Mumbaikar or an unpatriotic Indian”.
Jai Hind !!!!
Jai Maharashtra !!!
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