Bandh !

This is the image which Mumbai will remember for a long time to come. Yet another protest, another bandh - mindless violence and damage to Public and Private property.

Apprarently the Shiv Sena found what it was looking for. An opportunity to show its presence in Mumbai under a new leadership. Time for Thackrey Jr. to take over the reigns of terror from his Dad.

Thackrey Sr. burnt Mumbai in the last 3 decades, Thackrey Jr. intends to do so for the new generation.

However I guess there is one little point that they fail to understand in carrying forward this legacy of violence and intimidation to prove a point.

India, then used to be largely unorganized, still coming out of the British Raj Shadow. The world scene was different as well. India was a Soviet ally and the Nehru-Gandhi legacy had charted out a pseudo-secular, socialist path for India.

Lack of jobs, identity and showing political superiority was the main aim of the political parties then. The audience was the largely poor, uneducated and ill-informed low class population of a city known largely as the "Manchester of India". The textile started it all. Political movements , Bandhs exposing "capitalist" threats to the working class of Mumbai. Shakhas sprung up all over the city and the "Shiva Sena" was born to ward off this socialist, capitalist threat.

Slowly times changed and the threat changed. The textile mills became a thing of the past. The issue which was on hand was the threat from the South Indian businessmen and Dons who dominated the Mumbai scene. A campaign of "Sundar Mumbai - Marathi Mumbai" was launched to enpower the Marathi natives of Mumbai.

Again the strategy changed - this time to counter the "Muslim" threat. Along with the Muslims - the bigger threat was the so-called "Secular" parties like the Congress and the Left front who were Muslim and minorty appeasers in general. The dalits were another target. Anti-congress, pro Hindu was the requirement of the day, especially since the Babri Masjid issue was hot in the Hindi heartlands of UP and Bihar. Bal Thackrey was crowned as the "Hindu Hridaya Samrat".

Being ahead in anti-Muslim riots became the single focus of the party to find a place with the majority "Hindu" community.

Times changed and one after the other these campaigns did find some patrons but as a party it never caught on. The only place where it found support was the extremely poor community who somewhere felt a sense of identity with the Shiv Sena's various campaigns. Various sections identified with the various campaigns for their own means. It never became an ideology for anyone except for the party and its cadres.

The tiger is now old and lost most of its teeth. Narayan Rane, Chagan Bhujbal, Raj Thackrey and so many who made the Sena so potent are now gone. Plus they are now rivals. Thackrey Jr. does not have the fire and charisma of the Sr. to hold the party together.

The Sena is a spent force and the tiger is wounded and desperate to find a rightful place in Mumbai's political scene again.

The global scene is one of collaboration across boundaries. Sons and Daughters of the people who suffered during the Textile agitation are now somebit better off thanks to the IT boom. They are educated and cannot identify with the movements and ideologies which their parents stood by to find justice and security. The media captures minute graphic details and ask questions. The courts demand explanation and punish. The people want answers to this mindless violence and want the guilty to be punished. They dont care about an ideology which is only self-serving and does not contribute to India's hi-tech image.