Till Jarange pitched his tent, announced a hunger-strike while his loyal army took over tracts of South Mumbai, paralysing daily life, not many people had heard of the 43-year- old school dropout, the Maratha activist from Beed
Now that the Maratha Marauders have quietly left the metropolis after what was disingenuously claimed as a “victory” by their leader, one thing became clear to Mumbaikars: No matter who, no matter what, Mumbai comes first. What Manoj Jarange attempted -- and failed at -- was to bring the city to its knees and accede to his demands. The thing about the average and exceedingly hard-working Mumbaikar is that he/she does not care what anybody’s agenda/demands are. Fight for them constitutionally, not at the cost of other people’s rights. We want to get on with the business of life. To survive, and with any luck thrive, in India’s biggest and busiest city.
Till Jarange pitched his tent, announced a hunger-strike while his loyal army took over tracts of South Mumbai, paralysing daily life, not many people had heard of the 43-year- old school dropout, the Maratha activist from Beed. Not many people knew or cared about his chequered political history either. But they sure as hell objected to their city being converted into the largest public latrine in the country, with thousands of Jarange supporters bathing and defecating brazenly at historic landmarks, often barring citizens from exiting or accessing their homes and workplaces.
The mayhem, obstruction and destruction caused by drunken youth attempting to enter private clubs, hotels and stores has been widely documented and commented on. What Mumbaikars are irate about is not just the major disruption caused to commuters, senior citizens, children, shop owners and daily wage labourers, but the deliberate apathy of the administration. It’s significant that the delayed stopgap solution to a potentially incendiary situation finally came from the courts! Imagine -- the situation in South Mumbai was so bad that an exasperated high court judge finally reprimanded Jarange when he was forced to walk to the court, while the Marathas danced in the streets. “The HC was virtually under siege”, said the judge, as the entry gates for judges and lawyers were blocked.
The absence of the political leadership during the crisis was alarming -- whether by design or default -- who’s to say? But questions will be asked and answers demanded. Which Nero fiddled while Mumbai sank and stank? Who had deliberately dawdled and why? The provocations were escalating as gleeful volunteers took over Marine Drive and used expensive bottled water to bathe and wash clothes. Azad Maidan was turned into a kho kho/kabaddi/wrestling arena, with thousands of spectators cheering half-naked men clad in underwear during raucous matches. Meanwhile, Mumbai’s beleaguered police and security forces, already on high alert, were deployed to protect one man: Amit Shah. India’s home minister was visiting Mumbai’s most loved deity – the majestic Lalbaug Chha Raja. Clogged roads were shut to the public and darshan denied to devotees, who had camped out for days in the rain to be allowed inside the pandal.
Will he or won’t he, wondered political watchers as Jarange’s supporters waited in vain for a visit from Number 2. Sensibly, Amit Shah left the city, ignoring Jarange. Maharashtra’s chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who’d accompanied Amit Shah to the pandal, also sat tight while the city was falling apart. Powerful and prominent Marathas in the Fadnavis team (Ashok Chavan, Ashish Shelar, Narayan Rane, Chandrakant Patil) were nowhere on the scene. Was it to downsize the importance of Jarange or to further embarrass a certain someone? For four days straight, Jarange held sway, as 22 million Mumbaikars fumed but could do nothing. This is unprecedented. Mumbai has seen countless protests over decades. But none as brazen or anarchic.
It's a bit late in the day to talk about an intel deficit and point out that not enough information was conveyed to the police or state government about 35,000 protestors camping out in South Mumbai for four days. The permission was for 5,000. No high-level meetings, no SOP. Despite this lapse (or was it a deliberate attempt to misguide/sabotage?), dedicated cops soldiered on (12 DCPs, 14 ACPs, 52 police inspectors, 250 APIs and PSIs, 6 SRPF teams, along with the CISF and Rapid Action Force contingents from Gujarat and Delhi), going without sleep, to keep the city relatively calm by keeping their own cool. Kudos to additional municipal commissioner Ashwini Joshi for handling such a monumental task without too much collateral damage. Frankly, Jarange’s supporters should have volunteered to clean up the mess they had created. They might have earned a few brownie points.
Mumbai bounced back and regained its buoyancy quickly, I noted happily, seeing Fashion Street crowded, and members of the Bombay Gymkhana gratefully entering the club, which had temporarily closed.
I received my “quota” of online hate and threats from Jarange supporters, accusing me of being an elitist “stooge”. Better that than being an aggressive, inconsiderate and self-centred activist brazenly trampling on the rights of citizens and holding a city to ransom.
The big question then is: Who was behind Jarange’s audacious protest? Clearly, big money was backing the caravan of over one lakh Marathas pouring into the city from across the state, ready to camp out indefinitely, for as long as it took to succeed in their mission.
Uddhav Thackeray said: “Marathas are not terrorists.” Hello! Nobody had called them that. So, why use such a word? Was it to add more fuel to the fire and provoke opponents? Who stood to gain the most from these protests, besides Jarange and his followers? Jarange finally admitted that his followers “overdid a few things”, but rationalised it was “only because they had suffered for decades”. He found several sympathisers. But, are Marathas the only ones singled out for discrimination? There’s no justification for the wanton and unlawful desecration of public places, especially in the middle of the city’s most popular festival, which attracts tourists from across the world.
