NEW DELHI, Nov 20 — People in Mumbai used to cower when politician Bal Thackeray roared.
But now they are up in arms at the ageing leader of the far-right Shiv Sena party for taking aim at the wrong target – iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
Thackeray, 83, is an advocate of the Marathis, as the people of the Indian state of Maharashtra – the capital of which is Mumbai - are called. His political group has even resorted to violence in the name of championing the rights of local people over those of “outsiders”.
Tendulkar is also from Maharashtra, as he noted in remarks earlier this week when he said: “I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that.”
Then he added: “But I am an Indian first. And Mumbai belongs to all Indians.”
Thackeray quickly hit out at Tendulkar, 36, for “hurting Marathi sentiments”. In an open letter addressed to the sports hero in the party newspaper Saamna, Thackeray warned him to stick to cricket and not venture into politics by making such statements.
“Mumbai may be the economic capital of the country, but don’t forget that it’s the capital of Maharashtra first,” he wrote. “Sachin, if you speak against the rights of Marathi people, then they would never tolerate it.”
In the past, people chastised by Thackeray came running to seek his forgiveness. One of them was American professor James Laine, author of Shivaji: Hindu King In Islamic India, who was forced to apologise to the Shiv Sena in 2003 for allegedly derogatory references to Shivaji.
Shiv Sena activists had even assaulted and smeared Sanskrit scholar and historian Shrikant Bahulkar’s face with black paint because he had been acknowledged by Laine in the book.
But this time, the Shiv Sena leader’s outburst has backfired in cricket-crazy India.
“Sachin Tendulkar is from Maharashtra, but he plays for India,” said Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. “We are Indians first and then anything else. Sachin’s remarks will unite the country.”
Even the Bharatiya Janata Party, an ally of the Shiv Sena, distanced itself from Thackeray on the issue. Said senior leader Arun Jaitley: “Sachin is fully correct. I don’t think anybody could object to Tendulkar’s stand.”
An overwhelming 95 per cent of those who responded to a survey by NDTV said the Shiv Sena leader had taken “linguistic chauvinism to a new low”.
Thackeray’s criticism of the cricketer, who has studiously kept out of politics and controversies, is seen as a desperate attempt to regain his standing in Maharashtra politics, particularly in Mumbai.
That position was recently wrested from him by his protege nephew turned political foe, Raj Thackeray. The former Shiv Sena leader left his uncle’s party to set up the offshoot Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in 2006. But, like his uncle, he has also taken up the cause of “Maharashtra for Maharashtrians”.
The MNS is notorious for attacking cabbies and hawkers in Mumbai from the Hindi-speaking states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in the name of jobs for locals.
Last week, MNS deputies also attacked a fellow lawmaker in the state assembly who wanted to take the oath of office in Hindi, India’s national language, rather than in Marathi. Not to be outdone, Bal Thackeray said his party men would have made “tandoori” out of him.
Bal Thackeray may well regret having targeted Tendulkar. Perhaps federal minister Salman Khurshid put it best when he said the cricketer’s popularity has “bowled out” the Shiv Sena leader.
That, in layman’s terms, means that Thackeray’s game has ended. — The Straits Times
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