Statues come alive
Someone desecrated Meenatai Thackeray’s statue and Shiv Sena ’s party workers went on a rampage. Overcome as they were with emotion on their beloved “ma tai” being insulted, the loyal Shiv Sainiks came out in thousands to protest in their unique style. They burnt buses, cars and scooters. They broke shops. They destroyed private and public property.
The sheer power of their retort is impressive, even if it deserves to be criticised as totally unfair. For one, they were all united in their response. For another, their protests spread like wildfire across Maharashtra’s major cities and even beyond…it almost looked like a well-crafted plan. Surely, it was impressive.
Now if only they would react similarly when a police constable rapes a girl child. Or when a senior citizen is murdered for a few thousands. Or when Mumbai’s despicable roads gets inundated with crater-sized potholes at the first hint of rains. Or when the construction mafia forms a cartel to grab every piece of available land to build more concrete structures thereby ensuring more flooding.When all this happens, the loyal Shiv Sainiks become statues themselves.
Of course, statues come alive only when other statues are in distress.
Nicely written. The only thing I don’t subscribe to is the violence that usually ensues.
Abhijit Nadgouda
15 July 2006 at 8:08 am
Yes I agree Abhi. Voilence is not the antidote to anything. It only harms and hurts – does not solve anything. Unfortunately, many fellow countrymen believe otherwise.
Manoj Khatri
15 July 2006 at 9:14 am
Well MK, I thought you should have also brought out the loss to us – the people of the nation when these people burn buses, etc.
Lakshmi Subramaniam
31 August 2006 at 12:07 pm
Hi Manoj, I really like your blog and your articles. There is so much reality in what you have written. Yes infact, the so called loyal shiv sainiks should also reciprocate in the same way when countries and agencies attack our motherland with malafide intentions. Surely mother India is more important than the statue of “maa tai”
Vijay Dalwani
9 November 2006 at 2:29 pm
[...] Statues come alive again – Maharashtra Burning [...]
Statues come alive again - Maharashtra Burning « Info Zone
30 November 2006 at 6:46 pm