Maharashtra civil society must stand up to MNS

NOT THE WAY: Panellist agreed that MNS' methods are not right even though the issue may be genuine.

        

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A man from Uttar Pradesh was lynched on a train in Khopoli, just outside Mumbai on Tuesday. A Patna boy brandished a gun in public and took a bus conductor hostage and injured another commuter before being gunned down by Mumbai Police on Monday. Meanwhile, in Delhi politicians have been playing the blame game on Mumbai's latest brand of regional chauvinism.

Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil has said that an attempt was on to create strife in the state. He also reiterated that the government was doing everything necessary to ensure peace.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which has been running an anti-North Indian campaign in the state, has washed its hands off the lynching of the youth from UP by saying that its men have been wrongly detained and questioned by the police.

Union Home Minister and a native of the state, Shivraj Patil in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN said that the situation is not all that bad and can be brought under control.

Could the civil society then, have been a little more proactive to what has been happening in Mumbai? Some of metropolis’ prominent citizens expressed their views to CNN-IBN.

Adman Prahlad Kakkar said, "There is no body to look after the genuine interests of the Mumbaikar. Only Raj Thackeray seems to have articulated it." So while Thackeray has hijacked an issue, how real are the fears that helped the average Maharashtrian to latch on to the bandwagon?

Writer Shobha De in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN had said that the reason that MNS chief is succeeding to the extent he is, is because he may have tapped into something that is very real in the minds of the average Maharashtrian, some of whom may articulate it, some may not.

Who then is to be blamed for it?

The debate on the CNN-IBN show Face The Nation on Wednesday was: Is Maharashtra civil society scared of speaking against Raj Thackeray?

The panelists included noted Marathi poet Dilip Chitre, Shiv Sena MP to Rajya Sabha Bharatkumar Raut and film-maker activist Mahesh Bhatt. The discussion was moderated by Bhupendra Chaubey.