SHIV SENA

The problem with power
The Thackerays find their names linked to criminal cases

Rough seas: Thackeray's sons Jaidev,
Uddhav and nephew Raj 		When sons get their image sullied, their fathers too have to face the flak. More so, if they happen to be omnipotent politicos. Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray finds himself doing a lot of explaining, a year after his party came to power, because of his sons and favourite nephew. The names of the young Thackerays are beginning to be heard even in cases involving land-grabbing and extortion.
Last month, diamond merchant Bharat Shah, 50, complained to the Malabar police station that he was kidnapped after he refused to sell his flat to a developer. He told the police that he was forcibly taken to the office of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, where he was beaten up and made to sign away his flat for Rs 15 lakh. Shah, who lives with his wife and two children at Allahabad building in
Walkeshwar, claimed that his assailants told him that Raj saab (Thackeray’s nephew Raj) wanted to meet him at the newspaper’s office.
But Shah did not see him there though he was forced to sign the documents. Later, his wife Falguni alleged that the police did not act promptly though she had reported the case within 15 minutes of the kidnapping.
Shah claims that the developer wanted to pull down the building and construct a new one. In his FIR, he has named Jayesh Shah and Moolraj Kuldeep from the Naman group among others, as the men behind the kidnapping.
Raj Thackeray denied the charges and said that the stories were spread to defame him and his family as they were in power. DCP Deepak Jog told THE WEEK, "The police have been used in the case. Bharat Shah did this to hike his flat price. In his affidavit, Shah has denied the entire episode and he is now quoting Rs 40 lakh, up from Rs 20 lakh for the flat."
Even as police investigations were on, the Sena agitation for ‘sons-of-soil’ took a violent turn. The face of G. Mammuty, vice-president of Nippon Denro Ispat, was blackened by Sainiks and a garland of chappals hung around his neck at the company’s plant in Raigad.
The Sainiks were led by the Raigad district president and the attack was carried out in the presence of the police.
The party’s image took another beating after this incident. It was shining bright in the initial days of the Sena government when the Sainiks, who have a reputation of resorting to strong-arm tactics at the drop of a hat and of being intolerant towards critics, were in their best behaviour. The order to behave well had come from the supremo--he showed the way, acting with utmost restraint.
Chhagan Bhujbal, former Sena bigwig and now leader of the opposition in the legislative council, claims that there has been a tremendous increase in the Sena’s aggression. "We are taking up all these matters on the floor of the house. Raj and Jaidev Thackeray are always heavily escorted by the police and all these beatings and threats have been carried out in front of the police. After all these complaints by people like Bharat Shah were any leaders arrested? The common man feels that this is happening with police protection."
Of late, Mumbai has been witness to a string of land disputes which have led to chilling murders. Many builders are either seeking police protection or giving in to the demands of the extortionists. In June, Thackeray’s second son Jaidev’s name was linked to a case which seemed to have irked his father no end.
Thackeray claimed that a section of the press and some opposition parties were targeting his family on the eve of the assembly session. He felt that Jaidev was being dragged into a land dispute which originated in 1992 when Krishna Shantaram Chamankar and an estate agent Andrew Muskeeta entered into a deal to develop a plot at Juhu. But the title deed was not clear and there were other complications too. When the problems got sorted out, the two locked horns for control of the plot. After a long legal battle, the court decided the matter in Chamankar’s favour.
Soon afterwards, Chamankar started getting death threats over the phone at his home. The caller identified himself as Sharad Shelar, who had cases of extortion and assault against him at the Nirmal Nagar police station. The police say that a cable operator, Keshav Narayan Pujari, also exerted pressure on him. Pujari reportedly told that he was a close associate of Jaidev Thackeray and that he was acting on his behalf. When Chamankar went to meet Pujari at Raj Kamal apartments in Santa Cruz as directed, Pujari and associates asked him to surrender his rights to the property. Chamankar then approached Police Commissioner Tyagi; a trap was laid by the crime branch and Pujari and his associates were arrested from Raj Kamal apartments. They are all out on bail and the case is in court.
Jaidev claimed that he did not know Pujari personally and that he could have been one of the cable operators who had visited his house. He asked the Sena--BJP government to transfer all police officials who had entered his house without permission.
Police Commissioner Tyagi is also convinced of Jaidev’s innocence in the case. The officer was quoted as saying in a report that Pujari and his accomplices did not take Chamankar to the flat at Raj Kamal but had threatened him in the garden.
DCP Jog gives his version: "The accused were not even arrested from Jaidev Thackeray’s flat. Jaidev stays at the first floor while they were arrested from the sixth floor. His name was dragged simply because they were caught from the same building." Jog did not see the need for questioning Jaidev. "It is not our business to see who is close to whom. We check whether he was really involved or his name misused. We have charge-sheeted the accused," he says.
Bhujbal maintains that Pujari was arrested from Jaidev’s flat. "Why was Pujari there? Jaidev even said that the Shiv Shahi should honour the Mumbai Police under the Old Lady’s Shoe at Malabar Hill. He is implying that they should be beaten up with shoes. The police and Tyagi just listened to all this and don’t say anything. The police are favouring them. So many slums and old buildings are being razed for the builders. There have been many allegations against the sons and the family about land grabbing." But the police say no case has been registered against any leader and if they were, action would have been initiated.
Soon after the Pujari incident, the Shiv Sena found itself embroiled in yet another controversy when the director of the prestigious Haffkine institue, Dr Vishwanath
Yemul, was assaulted and allegedly taken to Matushri, Thackeray’s bungalow. Earlier there were reports in the Saamna which charged Yemul, also the state director of medical education, with misappropriation of funds.
The assailants, led by Sena Pramukh Mahesh Savardekar, stormed into Yemul’s office, smashed the furniture and took him in a vehicle to Matushri where he had to wait for an hour. He was later driven back to the institute.
The 55-year-old micro-biologist later lodged a complaint with the police. For the last few weeks, the institute had been involved in a flap with its trade unions over payment of wages. It is said that Yemul refused to yield to the pressures of the union and had to pay for it.
The police arrested the shakha pramukh and five others, all of them Sainiks. Saamna later published the photograph of the assault and the blackening of the face and gave its account of the whole incident.
Jog, who has met Dr Yemul, says that he is a very tough man. "This incident happened because of union disputes. Recently, the government split the Haffkine Institute into a government body and a corporation. This has led to a lot of resentment among the staff." Jog feels that this resentment may have led to the union dispute.
But Bhujbal claims, "the Haffkine Institute problems started because there was a conflict going on between Goel, another director, and Dr Yemul. Goel took the help of the Sena. Yemul is a straight person."
As the pressure mounts, Thackeray says that power has its own limitations and "we have our old habits. It is difficult to change the Sainiks' style overnight."
He wonders why there should be a law and order problem if somebody’s face is blackened. After all there was no violence and everything was done peacefully. These violent incidents and allegations have given the opposition in the state a long handle to get back at the Sena, come the Monsoon session. Which is why Thackeray says that the charges against his sons and family increase during the eve of the session as it did last time also when Jaidev was involved in a controversy rooted at the National Park.
Bhujbal, however, suspects that a parallel court is being run in Matushri. "I was told that the collector of Raigad was slapped in Varsha (the chief minister’s residence) in front of the Sena leaders. If anything is wrong, if the Haffkine doctor or anyone else is guilty why should the Sena take the law in their hands? They are the government now, they have the police. They could have transferred him. How long the people are going to tolerate this? People are fed up and are saying that the Congress was better. "
Thackeray has his task cut out to ensure that his sons don’t follow tradition and do him in.
--SEJAL SHAH
Sniping time
After the honeymoon, itching and bitching in the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance
Like all marriages of convenience, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has been an uneasy one. The squabbles began from day one, with the Tiger grabbing a lion’s share of the assembly seats. The BJP sulked but went along, being assured of a bigger national role.
The differences could be smoothed because the leaders of the two parties, Bal Thackeray and Pramod Mahajan, vibed well despite their dissimilar temperaments; one is tempestuous, the other is known for his clear-headed political logic. And the diplomatic Chief Minister Manohar Joshi allowed his ebullient deputy, Gopinath Munde of the BJP, to get equal prominence in government and on public platforms.
The strains began showing soon after the first anniversary back-slapping. Munde, a regular at Joshi’s major press meets, was absent when Joshi paraded the five independent MLAs who had become associate members of the Sena. Then came the grand entry of Jalgaon political baron Suresh Kumar Jain into the Sena.

Target of attack: Gopinath Munde 		The Jain show was clear indication that the Sena was planning a strategic foray into a Congress stronghold-turned-BJP base. For Sena, with its largely urban moorings, had found the BJP quietly extending its reach into the countryside through the cooperative network. The Cooperatives Minister Jayaprakash Mundhda belongs to the BJP.
The Sena was also unhappy over Munde’s non-cooperation. As home minister, he refused to victimise senior police officers who had troubled the Sainiks during the Congress regime. The officers, including the no-nonsense Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Pande, were transferred but to vital posts.
Pande, who had cracked down on shady bars in the Bandra-Dharavi belt, had dealt harshly with some overbearing Sena leaders like Madhukar Sarpotdar, now MP, inviting a public rebuke from Thackeray.
Meanwhile, one-upmanship games were really on. When Munde ordered a crackdown on the pubs in Pune after a brawl involving army officer trainees got bad press, Minister of State for Home Anil Deshmukh of the Sena launched a high-profile crusade against the bars in Mumbai which feature dancing girls. If it was a popularity contest with Munde, Deshmukh certainly can’t hope to win. The throng of visitors at Munde’s office is thicker than that at even the chief minister’s office, making it a nightmare for the security people.
Even as the jockeying for photo-opportunities was on, a real row erupted, exposing the fragility of the holy Hindutva alliance. A police team in pursuit of an alleged extortionist reportedly barged into the residence of Jaidev Thackeray, the apolitical son of the Sena chief, and Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Maria was transferred the next day. Apparently the Sena had begun leaning more heavily on the police brass as it could not pressure the home ministry.
If the BJP was hoping to give a free hand to the police, the Sena gave notice that in Maharashtra the orders came from ‘Matushri’, the Thackeray home. It was perhaps no coincidence that the party daily Saamna banner-headlined a report that the Gujarat BJP dissident Shankersinh Vaghela was planning to join the Sena along with 68 MLAs. For the BJP national leadership, it was an ominous message that the Sena would not mind forming an alliance with Vaghela if only to spite the BJP. (Incidentally, the Sena had opened units all over Gujarat and contested 15 Lok Sabha seats there.) That set off a proxy war through the media. First came the BJP tough talk from Delhi that it would not mind giving up power if pushed too far. The return salvo came as typical Thackeray thunder: the Sena was not power-hungry and would not let anyone dictate to terms to it.
The next round was in the legislative council during the election of the opposition leader. Ex-Sena man Chhagan Bhujbal was the Congress nominee and Thackeray wanted him defeated at all costs, but the BJP was unwilling to play along. As the tussle was taking a serious turn, BJP president L.K. Advani arrived in Mumbai for a heart-to-heart talk with Thackeray and brought about a truce.
Though the two parties have no chance of getting a majority if they fall apart, the BJP is far from comfortable in the alliance. It apparently fears that the Sena’s growing aggression may drive the voters back to the Congress. The BJP could not also have savoured Thackeray’s comment on the influx of unskilled workers. He said "these beggars from Bihar and UP" were a big strain on the state’s economy, perhaps without realising that it might cost his ally some votes in these two states.
But Mahajan sounded unpertur-bed. "I don’t see any serious problem," he told THE WEEK over the telephone. "The alliance is a product of 12 years’ tapasya. It is strong and there are bound to be differences even in a single-party government."
Trouble, however, was far from over for the BJP. Just when it signed the truce, came an outburst from one of its own legislators against Munde. The MLA from Beed, Dr Vimal Mundada, claimed in the assembly that the crime graph in the state had gone up after Munde had become home minister. She alleged that his brother Pandit Munde was shielding criminals in her district.
Munde, who attributed her anger to mere denial of ministership, had more shocks in store. The Congress veteran Babaorao Dhakne alleged that Munde had met the henchmen of the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim during a family outing in Nepal. Munde has offered to renounce politics if the charge is proved within a month but it is intriguing who had leaked details of his movements in Nepal.
--B. KRISHNAKUMAR
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