pragmatically optimistic…

i heard this crazy story about los angeles.  early yesterday morning, two democrats went for a morning jog and discovered that mud had been slung all over their favorite landmark, a statue of eleanor roosevelt.  appalled by the actions of some miscreants, they called bill clinton, al gore, john kerry, teddy kennedy.  protesting mobs of democrats soon mobilized, set fire to buses, pelted stores, shut the town down.  john edwards, in his sweet, insincere drawl, spouted rhetoric, demanding that republican leadership take note and recognize the power of the democratic party.  even smiley joe lieberman muttered something eerily reminiscent of brother malcolm. violence was justified, who could expect any less?

wait a minute, did i say los angeles?  no, no, no.  I meant mumbai, the thriving, modern metropolis of india.  yesterday was sunday and i was looking forward to exploring the city, soaking up some atmosphere, going to some markets.  by 1pm, my plans had been thwarted.  restaurants, shops, markets, street vendors, book stores (everything!) closed.  that darn monsoon again, you ask?  not this time.  just some mud thrown at a statue of meenatai, the late wife of shiv sena party chief, bal thackeray.  two party loyalists discovered the ‘defacement’ and, within two hours, mobs of hundreds, then thousands, of shiv sainiks had mobilized.  they set fire to buses, hurled rocks at shop owners, forced most of mumbai (a city of 14 million people) to shut down.  the violence spread outside of the city to random areas of the state of maharashtra.  in my neck of the woods (south mumbai), i saw no violence, only scores of mumbai police armed with bamboo sticks.  ouch, don’t they look tough?!

i’m an american who is happy to be in this fine city for the summer.  i’ve been searching for a way to understand the violence that descended upon mumbai yesterday, trying to give it the benefit of the doubt.  maybe my inability to recognize the validity of shiv sena claims is wrapped in an ethnocentric, western blanket.  but seriously, how can these actions be justified?  the religion card has been well played by shiv sena and the results I observed yesterday were disappointing, ridiculous.  political party bosses have validated (or perhaps simply reinforced) violence as an appropriate means of political action.  in the most dire circumstances, maybe this is so.  but mud at a statue?  that’s no jim crow. 

today, the hindustan times stated that shiv sena was sending a message to other parties (congress and mns).  the theme: shiv sena is still a powerful political force in mumbai.  indeed, force may be the best word to use in this situation.  isn’t politics the art of addition?  electoral prospects and political clout demonstrated through needless violence and religiously divisive justifications?  shame on you, uddhav thackeray. shame.