Violent ways

THE RANSACKING OF a private hospital in Thane by hoodlums belonging to the Shiv Sena is indeed yet another reminder of the lumpen proclivities of the adherents of Mr. Bal Thackeray's outfit. It may be true that there were no communal overtones to the Thane incident. The incident was one involving the ``sentiments'' of the Shiv Sena cadre - they were driven to the destruction spree by a suspicion that the death of their local leader, Anand Dighe, was caused by the negligence of the hospital staff. In this sense, the Sena-sponsored violence was not directed against anyone from the minority community or any institution involved in any activity that Mr. Thackeray and his ilk would describe as inimical to the ethos of the nation. But then, the savage act that left the hospital demolished, one part of the building was set on fire unmindful of the fact that the lives of several in-patients were being endangered, is just another instance of the lumpenism that Mr. Thackeray had encouraged among his ranks over the years. And it is this aspect of the incident that raises concerns. What is worse is that the Sena leaders, including the former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr. Narayan Rane, were reportedly there but refrained from preventing their partymen from doing what they did.

The Shiv Sena's history, ever since its birth in the 1960s, is marked by such lumpen behaviour by its ranks. And on every such occasion - be it the violent attacks on trade unionists, on members of organisations involved in defending the pluralist and democratic traditions or on cultural activists - the Sena chief had stood up to encourage their acts. Such violent means have indeed been the mainstay of Mr. Thackeray's organisation building effort. And unleashing such violence has always been the tactics that the Shiv Sena chief had adopted to terrorise not just the members of the minority communities (as it was witnessed in the bloody violence unleashed against the Muslim community soon after December 6, 1992) but also against all those who migrated to Mumbai from the rest of India. The Sena hoodlums had only upheld this ``tradition'' that Mr. Thackeray had cultivated over the years. Mr. Thackeray could do this only because the civil administration, for obvious reasons, had refused to deal with the perpetrators of such violence in the same way as ordinary lumpens are dealt with. This had not only created the space for the Sena to grow into a political outfit but also accorded a sense of legitimacy to the use of terror (and extortion) as a political weapon. Hence, the imperative for the State Government in Maharashtra now is to ensure that all those behind the Thane hospital incidents are dealt with.

Similar concerns arise from the events in Ahmedabad too. The violence in the town leading to the death of one person and injury to several others (in police firing) is yet another example of how even localised conflicts take on political and communal overtones and lead to a sense of insecurity among the common people. The Ahmedabad incidents, as have been reported, are also a pointer to the consequences of the sectarian campaign by outfits belonging to the Sangh Parivar. The violence that rocked a part of the city was another instance of how a localised conflict involving traders and a set of extortionists could be blown into a riot with communal overtones. It is in this context that it becomes necessary for the civil administration to launch a consistent offensive against outfits that indulge in fomenting sectarian strife rather than restrict itself to intervening only when a riot breaks out. A pro-active civil administration guided by the larger concerns of democracy and secularism alone can save the situation from worsening even further. This indeed is the message from the violent events in Thane and in Ahmedabad.

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