It is a win-win situation for Raj Thackeray. He must have desired to get arrested. That keeps him in the headlines and also steals the media limelight from his main rival, the Shiv Sena. To his followers, indeed to a large number of Marathi youth in Mumbai and Maharashtra, the arrest confers on him the status of a saviour. The more he is seen on the non-Marathi channels and among the Hindi-speaking political classes as a monster, the more he is perceived as a spokesperson by the angry and volatile urban/semi-urban Marathi youth. The law and order establishment in Maharashtra is totally confused as to how to deal with this not-so-sudden rise of an outlaw. Raj likes and adores the Hollywood westerns in which the horse-riding sheriff challenges whole towns of American Indians with his cool, daring and sharpshooting skills. What is a calculated riot for Raj is a “spontaneous rebellion” for his widespread following of lumpen youths. The more they are condemned, the more reckless they become. They are the new cowboys, mainly from the sprawling metropolis of Mumbai.

The rise of Raj can be directly attributed to the total non-performance of the Congress-NCP government as well as to the slow fading of Balasaheb Thackeray. The criminal neglect of Mumbai and other emerging urban centres like Pune, Thane, Nasik, Aurangabad for the past decade or more has raised the level of frustration and anger across the cities. More so among the so-called “local” Marathi populace that has been feeling overwhelmed and marginalised. But the fault is not of those “bhayyas” who are seen as “invaders”. The main culprits are the state government and the Shiv Sena-BJP-led corporation which have shown complete disregard for the basic necessities of the city. So it is not as if only the Marathi-speaking people of the city have lost hope. Even the migrants, from all over the country who come to Mumbai and then spread out to other cities, feel despair.

... contd.