Of course, the Congress wants to score over its main rival — the NCP — and the demand for the implementation of the Srikrishna Commission’s recommendations are being weighed by both the Congress (which wants to reach out to the Muslim vote bank) and the NCP (whose minister R.R. Patil holds the home portfolio) in political terms. Both the parties have said that the whole issue (of booking Sena leaders) is being examined and that action would be taken wherever evidence was available. It is pertinent to note here that the Congress and the NCP had mentioned in their manifestoes for the 2004 assembly elections that the recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission would be implemented.

In the meanwhile, the Sena and the BJP have gone on the offensive. They are maintaining that re-opening the issue would cause communal disharmony and that the whole exercise is aimed at appeasing Muslims.

The aspects now under the anxious consideration of the government include whether booking Sena leaders would lead to fresh communal riots; whether it would help the Congress (and/or the NCP) in the next assembly polls; and whether, ultimately, it would lead to the polarisation of the Marathi Manoos and Hindus, which would help the Sena-BJP.

The apprehension that the Deshmukh government nurses is that any strong action on the Sena leadership would end up turning them into heroes. This is because, after the 1993 riots, the Sena has masqueraded as the messiah of Hindus in Mumbai and had thus been able to effect an unprecedented polarisation of Marathi and Hindu votes, which in turn helped the Sena-BJP to wrest power from the Congress in 1995.

... contd.