Crowds in Thane who had turned up to attend Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray’s campaign for his candidates for the forthcoming elections did not disappoint the leader by their presence in numbers.
Thackeray did not disappoint them either.
At the Shiv Sena chief’s Central Maidan address on February 11, for the upcoming civic polls, about 18,000-20,000 people showed up. Most were present for Thackeray’s speech which, as per many whom this reporter spoke to, was full of politically incorrect rhetoric.
Thackeray arrived over ninety minutes late for the rally which was to begin at 7.00 pm. Promptly taking the microphone he took a jibe at Raj Thackeray within 5 sentences of his speech. Reminiscing, he referred to his changed venue, and how he doesn’t go to Court for such matters. The Sena supremo used to address his Thane rallies at Gaondevi Maidan in the past. Thackeray Jr. has been in the news over court rejections for his application to hold a rally at Dadar’s Shivaji Park.
His next targets were NCP leader Sharad Pawar and Congress leader ‘Naarya’ (Narayan Rane). Referring to questions being raised about his property and wealth, he issued a challenge to both the leaders. ‘Take all of my property, give me all of yours,’ he said to cheers.
Thereafter, he brought up some of the latest court judgements. ‘Taunting doesn’t amount to harassment’, this was directed to the women in particular. They were asked if a mother-in-law’s taunts don’t constitute harassment. He then went on to the judgement which allows a ‘married man to live with a young woman (taruni)’. Are these any judgements to give, he asked.
He did not forget to mention Anna Hazare. ‘To Anna Hazare…oothl(a) aapl(a)…aamaran uposhan.’ (That Anna Hazare… fasting unto death). He declared that Hazare was merely a puppet in the hands of some and did not realise that… Ridiculing Anna supporters, he poked fun at the Anna caps everyone was sporting between August and December last year. Celebrities Dia Mirza and Shabana Azmi (and their caps) were singled out for special mockery. ‘Thought about the upper half, what about the lower half?’
Targeting Rahul Gandhi, he alleged that his food comes from five-star hotels even as he pretends to eat at the homes of he poor. He expressed his appreciation of Narendra Modi in one line. ‘Narendra Modi gaya, Gujarat gaya.’ (If Narendra Modi goes, so does Gujarat), even as he referred to his nephew’s public admiration for Modi. He said that just as Uddhav Thackeray brought out hoardings about his work (in the Sena’s ‘Karun Dakhavale’ campaign), Modi gave out full page newspaper advertisements. He said that Raj Thackeray can’t read newspapers and hence does not know. This was a rejoinder for his nephew’s criticism of the Sena’s advertisements.
He later said that all Marathis should work together. At this point he expressed disappointment over his nephew’s conduct. ‘Majhya putnyane zhak marali.’ He also said that he may be getting Shivaji Park every year as part of a tradition (again a reference to the MNS venue issue), but there was no point because of the restrictions imposed. He made scathing remarks about ‘a Muslim woman…from some Human (body)’ who measures the decibels and says ‘there has been an increase (in noise)’.
At the same time, he said that he was never against Muslims. Whoever loves the country, we always support them. It is only those who attacked us after the Babri incident that we don’t like.
Hilal Patil (65), who had come from Kharegaon, was especially there to hear Thackeray speak. He was on his way out just as the speech ended, with the organisers asking people not to leave the grounds immediately.
A Shiv Sena up-pramukh from Panchpakhadi (Thane), Ujjwala Bhoite (53), said that any Bal Thackeray gathering will always be over-crowded. Vaikunth Kanamhatre (42), a shakha pramukh from Kalyan, said that given the speaker of the evening, more people should have turned up.
Cops at the venue weren’t expecting such a turn-out. ‘There wasn’t even proper place to sit,’ one of them pointed out. The ‘Hindu-Hriday Samrat’, for his part, kept asking if the Chief minister or any other leader could expect so many to show up for them. He underlined his special relationship with Thane in the same breath, recounting that it was the Sena’s first political victory.
By Pradnya Waghule
