REGIONAL LEADER RAJ THACKERAY TARGETS NORTH INDIANS AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 000040 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PINS PGOV PINR IN SUBJECT: REGIONAL LEADER RAJ THACKERAY TARGETS NORTH INDIANS AND MEDIA ATTENTION IN MUMBAI MUMBAI 00000040 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (U) Summary: Irresponsible statements by Abu Asim Azmi of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and inflammatory responses by Raj Thackeray, the founder of Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena (MNS), resulted in minor violence against several North Indian migrants in Mumbai on February 3 and 4. Media pundits were quick to condemn the violence in opinion pieces and panel discussions, yet electronic news channels simultaneously exaggerated the violence to boost viewership. ¶2. (U) The face-off between SP and MNS was essentially about two political parties playing towards their major vote banks. For the SP this was North Indian migrants and for the MNS, Marathi-speakers. It is likely that the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) coalition has yet to seriously address the incident as excessive media attention directed at the SP-MNS conflict diverted publicity away from a major anti-Government farmers' rally held in Pune by another major opposition party, Shiv Sena, at the same time. Both the Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) have also maintained a studied silence on the issue, likely avoiding a backlash by the same vote banks. Incidents petered out by February 5, and contacts believe that the violence will not escalate. End Summary. Minor Incidents, Over-played by Electronic Media -------------- --- ¶3. (U) On February 3, ten people were injured and several arrested, when members of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led a street assault on Northerners who had come to attend a United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) rally organized by the Samajwadi Party (SP),at Shivaji Park, Mumbai's most iconic location for political rallies. MNS men tore posters, pelted stones and smashed windows of taxi-cabs, beat up roadside vendors and passers-by at random, near the rally grounds. Two movie theaters screening Bhojpuri films, in two Maharashtra cities north of Mumbai, were also vandalized (Note: Bhojpuri is one of the main dialects of Hindi, spoken in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. End Note.) Maharashtra SP Chief, Abu Azmi was detained by the police on February 3, when he refused to leave the precincts of the chief minister's bungalow; he had intended to voice concern about the violence at the rally to the Chief Minister who was not able to see him. On February 4, MNS men vandalized four taxis and assaulted several identifiably north Indian hawkers in Dadar, a central suburb of Mumbai, dominated by MNS. ¶4. (U) On February 4, the conflict moved from the streets to the TV channels' broadcasting studios. Sahara Samay, a Hindi channel anchor, quipped to MNS leader Shirish Parkar (on air), "I know I only have you for ten minutes and you have to visit five other studios tonight." All Hindi electronic news channels had MNS and SP leaders engaging in verbal slugfests on panel discussions, with viewer comments from Bihar, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh running as scrolls below. During the prime-time panel discussions (7 p.m. to 10 p.m.),and throughout the day, the Hindi channels continuously looped the same video of a taxi-cab being trashed and a hawker being beaten up. Throughout the day, North Indian migrants received calls from their relatives worried that Mumbai was going up in flames. Mumbai police ordered cable TV operators to block two channels in the city's northern suburbs because of the alleged inflammatory statements of SP leader Azmi being repeatedly televised. ¶5. (U) The Marathi channels were no less partisan in their reporting. Ample space was given to Marathi speaking viewers to vent about "outsiders" taking over Mumbai, and MNS being justified in issuing edicts against North Indian celebrations. The Star Marathi channel covered Raj's utterances with obvious sycophancy, while demonizing Azmi. ¶6. (U) Bharat Raut, editor of the Marathi newspaper Maharashtra Times, told us on February 4, "The overcrowding of news-channels means a fierce competition for eye-balls. All channels -- Hindi, English, Marathi -- have been equally irresponsible today. I have been traveling the length and breadth of Bombay today for work. Traffic is normal. Watching the news, however, would lead one to believe the city is having major riots." Escalating rhetoric that led to the violence -------------- MUMBAI 00000040 002.2 OF 003 ¶7. (U) The lead-up to the incident began with Abu Asam Azmi, a controversial and colorful politician from Mumbai, representing his home state Uttar Pradesh in the Upper House of Indian Parliament. In a late January rally of North Indians in Mumbai, Azmi was quoted saying that he would arm his supporters with bamboo-sticks (cane-batons) to protect themselves. Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil was present at the rally and did not respond. ¶8. (U) On February 2, Thackeray responded to Azmi's announcement, stating, "If they are going to get bamboos, let me warn you [Maharashtra Home Minister] Mr. Patil, we will get swords." On February 3, even as his supporters were beating up North Indians outside the UNPA rally in Mumbai, Thackeray was telling a Marathi audience roaring their approval in Pune, "If you [North Indians] have come here, you have to live in peace. You cannot celebrate an Uttar Pradesh Day in Maharashtra; Maharashtra will allow celebration of only Maharashtra Day." ¶9. (U) When Congress party Chief Minister(CM) Vilasrao Deshmukh did not meet Azmi on February 3, following the UNPA rally, Azmi told electronic news channels, "This is an impotent government. We North Indians voted these people in power. If they don't help us, they should realize that the millions of North Indians in Mumbai have the power to vote them out." Veteran editor Kumar Ketkar told us, "Azmi was until now known as a Muslim leader. By cashing in on Raj's irresponsible attacks, he is trying to pitch himself as the leader of all North Indians, Hindus and Muslims alike." Ketkar also said that North Indians constitute 14 percent of Mumbai voters. Political Opportunism of the NCP-Congress -------------- ¶10. (U) On February 3, the major opposition party Shiv Sena held a 30,000+ farmers' rally in Pune, to highlight farmers' suicides and indebtedness. The rally, addressed by Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, was attended by farmers from Western Maharashtra, the sugar-belt, the supposed strong-hold of both NCP and Congress. Mumbai newspapers the next day, however, barely even mentioned the rally. Every newspaper in Mumbai front-paged the vandalized taxi-cab, with the rally only reported by Sena's own paper. MNS vandalism could not have come on a better day for the NCP-Congress coalition, who hates the idea of losing control of the Western Maharashtra sugar belt. The Sena's success in mobilizing farmers on such a large scale will likely be an unwelcome surprise for Congress-NCP, who has denigrated the Sena as a party of urban up-starts that does not understand the problems of the rural economy. While Raj might have wanted to overshadow the Sena rally (Note: Raj founded the MNS after falling out with his cousin Uddhav Thackeray. End Note),the Congress-NCP also let him do it. ¶11. (U) The calculated harsh treatment meted out to Azmi, arresting him at the Chief Minister's residence, is also the continuation of old feuds. Mumbai police believe that Azmi's incendiary statements precipitated violence in Bhiwandi, a textile production center north of Mumbai, where Muslim assailants in 2007 burned two Hindu policemen alive. As far as Mumbai police are concerned, it was "score-settling" time. A majority of the street police officers of Mumbai hail from the same poor Marathi classes who feel threatened by Northern migrants arriving, and out-competing the "sons of the soil" for the lowest paying jobs. When Raj Thackeray's men were beating up the hawkers, the policemen just stood around and watched. Political Discomfiture of the Shiv-Sena/Bharatiya Janata Party -------------- -------------- ¶12. (U) The MNS is an upstart party started in February 2006, after Raj Thackeray broke away from the parent Shiv Sena party. His cousin Uddhav Thackeray leads the stump Shiv Sena party that, along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),is the major opposition alliance in Maharashtra. These two parties have maintained a studied silence in the SP-MNS conflict, even though Sena chief Uddhav has made overtures to the North Indians in the past, and the BJP counts on North Indian Hindu votes. The Sena/BJP alliance is caught between a rock and a hard place. If they support the Northern migrants being beaten up, the core MUMBAI 00000040 003.2 OF 003 Marathi Sena voter will be offended. If they support the MNS (anathema any way, because Raj is a political rival),BJP's North Indian Hindu voter is turned away. ¶13. (U) On February 4, the Mumbai police arrested over 60 MNS activists from Mumbai and Thane, and increased security at North Indian businesses. SP leader Amar Singh had booked a complaint against Raj Thackeray on the night of February 3. However, the police showed no signs of arresting Raj Thackeray, even symbolically. On the contrary, on February 6, Times of India front-paged Raj attending the city police commissioner's daughter's wedding night of February 5th. COMMENT: -------------- ¶14. (U) The violence was minor but the media made it sound much greater. Mumbai (and almost all urban areas in Maharashtra) are the land of opportunity for North Indians flocking here from the stagnating economies of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Just as the MNS and the SP were catering to distinct vote banks, the Hindi and Marathi channels too were talking to distinct audiences. Hindi channels were talking to the people "back home", playing on their fears, while Marathi channels were catering to the paranoia of the locals. ¶15. (U) Mumbai police definitely dealt with the violence indulgently, in part because of the legacy Bhiwandi killings. At the same time, the ruling Congress-NCP alliance did not discourage them. The increasing frequency of political theatre in Mumbai (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's rally in November 2007, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's rally in January 2008, UNPA rally in February, and the MNS violence on the periphery of this rally),point to one thing -- all major political formations believe that Maharashtra vote shares are in flux, and everyone wants a piece of the action. End comment. OWEN