Manoosiyat of dirty politics
Double standards in politics are rising as vertically as the priceline and there seems to be no dearth of political leaders who are out to have fun at the expense of their respective voter manoos.
Look at Shiv Sena. The bhaiyyas have been in Mumbai for ages. So have Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray. And the ’twain have co-existed peacefully, even when the non-manoos did not know Marathi. So why is the manoos vs non-manoos campaign so young? Because it is nothing but turf war within Sena, not so much over manoos and non-manoos as between Raj Thackeray and the Uddhav-Bal combine. Can someone tell us if the Sena has a quota for Marathis manoos in its party recruitment drive? Like, only 10 per cent non-Marathis allowed?
To add appeal to their outrageous campaign, (why does the Government always allow it to snowball), the Sena chooses its targets carefully. This time it is superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
Now, there are a hundred more serious issues the Sena could have raised rather than go after a frivolous opinion expressed by a personality who has no impact whatsoever on policy.
So what if SRK feels Pakistanis should have been in the IPL? Does it matter if Afridi is missing or present? What matters, and what the Sena should be after, is the complacence of Pakistan on 26/11. With such an organised force, the Sena could go all out to pressure the Centre into taking some action against Pakistan and the perpetrators of 26/11 blasts; how come the Sainiks are yet to go after Kasab? Why have they not gone on a rampage demanding his immediate hanging from the Taj Mahal Palace? After all, they are hardly known to respect law or the judicial system. Why just centre around banning My Name Is Khan? Will that serve any purpose for the nation and its manoos, even its Marathi manoos? All it will do is give free publicity to the film.
Let’s come to SRK himself. Much as you love him he, too, has become an epitome of double standards. First he ignores the entire Pak line-up in bidding for his team KKR at the recent IPL auction. Some days later, he issues a statement saying Pak players should have been picked up! He then refuses to apologise and says it is his private opinion. It is another matter altogether that as the controversy unfolds with the Sena turning ballistic, King Khan gets inordinate publicity for his film My Name is Khan.
Thanks to the Sena and SRK’s obvious courting of the Muslim segment, the opening buzz will take care of MNIK’s returns — on both sides of the border.
Simply put, Sena gains terrain and SRK eyeballs for his film in a win-win controversy. The aam manoos, meanwhile, keeps footing the bill.
As the controversy threatens to die down, in jumps Rahul Gandhi with his ‘I-have-to-become-an-icon’ campaign. He gets all the brownies to say simply and convincingly that Mumbai belongs to all Indians. He then takes a quick ride through the megapolis, including a hop into the local train, as the Sena looks the other way. Was it that the Sainiks were on tea-break or, did the cops finally showed us how they can manage to quell any movement if they really, really want to?
Let’s end with the biggest double-standards votary of them all — the Union Government. Our PM, the economic reform king of yore, has just announced that the food crisis is here to stay. Of course, he does not say if his Government will tackle it but he is, nevertheless outraged that chini, daal and sabzi are selling like gold dust. Perhaps, it’s here that he could put the delectable “zero tolerance” phrase to best use – and if the Centre is not doing so on its own, can the Shiv Sena please launch a campaign against it on the following issues — zero tolerance to price rise, zero tolerance to corruption and zero tolerance to terror. It’s sounds much more appealing and reasonable than its current zero tolerance to non-Marathi manoos!
Look at Shiv Sena. The bhaiyyas have been in Mumbai for ages. So have Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray. And the ’twain have co-existed peacefully, even when the non-manoos did not know Marathi. So why is the manoos vs non-manoos campaign so young? Because it is nothing but turf war within Sena, not so much over manoos and non-manoos as between Raj Thackeray and the Uddhav-Bal combine. Can someone tell us if the Sena has a quota for Marathis manoos in its party recruitment drive? Like, only 10 per cent non-Marathis allowed?
To add appeal to their outrageous campaign, (why does the Government always allow it to snowball), the Sena chooses its targets carefully. This time it is superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
Now, there are a hundred more serious issues the Sena could have raised rather than go after a frivolous opinion expressed by a personality who has no impact whatsoever on policy.
So what if SRK feels Pakistanis should have been in the IPL? Does it matter if Afridi is missing or present? What matters, and what the Sena should be after, is the complacence of Pakistan on 26/11. With such an organised force, the Sena could go all out to pressure the Centre into taking some action against Pakistan and the perpetrators of 26/11 blasts; how come the Sainiks are yet to go after Kasab? Why have they not gone on a rampage demanding his immediate hanging from the Taj Mahal Palace? After all, they are hardly known to respect law or the judicial system. Why just centre around banning My Name Is Khan? Will that serve any purpose for the nation and its manoos, even its Marathi manoos? All it will do is give free publicity to the film.
Let’s come to SRK himself. Much as you love him he, too, has become an epitome of double standards. First he ignores the entire Pak line-up in bidding for his team KKR at the recent IPL auction. Some days later, he issues a statement saying Pak players should have been picked up! He then refuses to apologise and says it is his private opinion. It is another matter altogether that as the controversy unfolds with the Sena turning ballistic, King Khan gets inordinate publicity for his film My Name is Khan.
Thanks to the Sena and SRK’s obvious courting of the Muslim segment, the opening buzz will take care of MNIK’s returns — on both sides of the border.
Simply put, Sena gains terrain and SRK eyeballs for his film in a win-win controversy. The aam manoos, meanwhile, keeps footing the bill.
As the controversy threatens to die down, in jumps Rahul Gandhi with his ‘I-have-to-become-an-icon’ campaign. He gets all the brownies to say simply and convincingly that Mumbai belongs to all Indians. He then takes a quick ride through the megapolis, including a hop into the local train, as the Sena looks the other way. Was it that the Sainiks were on tea-break or, did the cops finally showed us how they can manage to quell any movement if they really, really want to?
Let’s end with the biggest double-standards votary of them all — the Union Government. Our PM, the economic reform king of yore, has just announced that the food crisis is here to stay. Of course, he does not say if his Government will tackle it but he is, nevertheless outraged that chini, daal and sabzi are selling like gold dust. Perhaps, it’s here that he could put the delectable “zero tolerance” phrase to best use – and if the Centre is not doing so on its own, can the Shiv Sena please launch a campaign against it on the following issues — zero tolerance to price rise, zero tolerance to corruption and zero tolerance to terror. It’s sounds much more appealing and reasonable than its current zero tolerance to non-Marathi manoos!
Published February 7, 2010, Sunday Pioneer, http://www.dailypioneer.com/234216/Manoosiyat-of-dirty-politics.html
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