[Reader-list] SRK BLUNDER

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Rakesh,

Thank you for your clarification. Yes, I agree, Thackeray has the  
legitimate freedom to declare that Shahrukh Khan, or my mother, or  
the tea stall vendor down the road is a traitor, or whatever else he  
has to declare. I have always respected the rights of the insane to  
their lunacy. However, the moment Thackeray calls on people to  
initiate violence, against those he has the right to call traitors,  
he loses in my view his right to live in liberty. I maintain, the  
strictest defence of free speech (my positions) is not inconsistent  
with the strictest view on what should be the consequences of a  
public call for violence against any individual.

Thackeray, if I am not mistaken, has publicly spoken in favour of  
terrorism. These are his exact words in a signed editorial in the  
Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, in June 2008 -
"It was heartening to know that it was the supporters of Hindutva who  
had exploded the bomb in the theatre. But it was sad to know that it  
was planted to hurt the Hindus and I am ashamed about it."
"The need of the hour is to plant a strong bomb in Bangladeshi bastis  
(slums) that have mushroomed in Thane and elsewhere in Maharashtra,"
Reports on this comment are available at -
http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?581621
and at - http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/20080619/shiv-sena-bal- 
thackeray-suicide-squad-bomb-hindu-muslim-saamna-marathi-play-bjp- 
congress-rss_1.htm
I am still surprised as to how this advocate of terrorism is still at  
liberty, given that there are so many legal mechanisms against  
terrorism that are apparently present in this country.
Even more interestingly, here (below) is a news report quoting a  
journalist, Yuvraj Mohite, a witness who appeared before the  
Shrikrishna Commission, directly indicting Balasaheb Thackeray in the  
co ordination of the riots that shook Bombay in 1993. Incidentally,  
this report also implicates the many political leaders in so called  
secular parties, especially the NCP, and in the establishment at  
large, who have always, and at the last minute, protected Balasaheb  
Thackeray. Which is one reason why the Maharashtra government of any  
political party has never seen it fit to put Balasahed Thackeray  
where he belongs, in a maximum security prison, along with other  
common and ordinary thugs, assasins and terrorists.
best.
Shuddha
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
-------------------------------------
Balasaheb commanded rioters: witness
Ruksh Chatterji / CNN-IBN
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/balasaheb-commanded-rioters-witness/ 
47404-3.html?xml&news=Balasaheb%20commanded%20rioters:% 
20witness&pubDate=Sat%2C+25+Aug+2007+03%3A21%3A51++0100&keyword=ibn_home

Published on Fri, Aug 24, 2007

INSIDE THE TIGER'S DEN: Mohite watched as Thackeray ordered his  
Sainiks to riot, burn, loot and commit mass murder.

Mumbai: The role of the Shiv Sena is clearly proven in the 1993  
Bombay riots, but there is one testimony that proves that Bal  
Thackeray coordinated much of the January carnage that Mumbai  
witnessed in 1993.

Says Witness, Srikrishna Commission Report, Yuvraj Mohite, "Balasaheb  
baithe they aur jagah jagah se unko phone aa rahe the aur woh halat  
poochke bolte the , 'Maro unhe, kaat dalo. Unko Allah ke pas bhej  
do'. Balasaheb was sitting and he was getting calls from various  
places. He would ask what was happening at that particular place  
(from where he got the call) and then he would say, 'Kill them. Send  
them to Allah'."

On the night of January 8, 1993, when the Shiv Sena chief Bal  
Thackeray sat in his home controlling the mobs that set Bombay on  
fire, journalist Yuvraj Mohite was present at the Thackeray residence.

Mohite watched as Thackeray ordered his Sainiks like a commander, to  
riot, burn, loot and commit mass murder.

This is what Bal Thackeray said in February '93 after the riots: "I  
am proud of what my boys have done. We had to retaliate and we did.  
If it was not for us, no one would have controlled the Muslims."

What he saw at the Thackeray home, left Mohite stunned.

"Main yeh sab sunke baukhla gaya tha (I was stunned after hearing all  
of this)," says Mohite.

And Yuvraj Mohite wasn't alone. Another man, Chandrakant Handore,  
then Mayor of Bombay and now social Justice Minister in the Congress- 
NCP government, is the one who took Mohite to the Thackeray home, and  
then told him to forget what'd he'd seen.

"Handore ne mujhe bola ki tum yeh sab bhul jao. Balasaheb to aise hee  
hain. Aur maine bola ki mein yeh kisi bhi halat mein nahin bhool  
sakta (Handore asked me to forget it all, Balasaheb is just like  
this. I said that I can never forget this under any circumstances.)"

However, Handore now claims he never saw Thackeray giving orders.

"Jab kuch hua hi nahi tha to main kaise kuch bolo sakta hoon. Aur  
maine kabhi Mohite ko nahi roka (When nothing of this sort happened  
how could I have said anything? I have also never stopped Mohite to  
speak)," says Handore.

With Handore claiming he had seen nothing, it was left up to the  
journalist to stand his ground. In his deposition before the  
Srikrishna Commission, Yuvraj clearly spelt out what Thackeray ordered:

* That not one Muslim be left alive to stand in the witness box.

* Asked his men to send the additional police commissioner, A A Khan,  
to his Allah.

* Ordered his men to retaliate to the Hindu killings in Jogeshwari.

It was this testimony that made the Commission indict the Sena chief.

Justice Srikrishna writes: "Even after it became apparent that the  
leaders of the Shiv Sena were active in stoking the fire of the  
communal riots, the police dragged the feet on the facile and  
exaggerated assumption that if such leaders were arrested, the  
communal situation would further flare up."

And it's Mohite's testimony that helped the commission prove the Sena  
involvement.

But what made him stand his ground?

"Jo maina dekha tha us se mein shock hogaya tha aur maine bola ki  
aisi baat jo maine dekhi hai use dabne nahi de sakta hoon (I was  
shocked at what I saw. I decided that something that I have seen I  
will not suppress it)."

Yuvraj Mohite’s testimony is a damning indictment of politicians like  
Chandrakant Handore and the then state government, which not only  
failed to save over 900 lives, but also didn't have the will or the  
guts to put Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in the dock.

On 15-Feb-10, at 6:22 PM, Rakesh Iyer wrote

> Dear Shuddha
>
> What I wish to clarify here is regarding my statement on 'freedom  
> of speech'. What I mean is that people are free to hold their  
> views. In that regard, Thackeray is free to hold the view that  
> Shahrukh is a 'traitor', that shouldn't be an issue here. Where  
> Thackeray does wrong is inciting people to commit violence against  
> Shahrukh because he is a traitor. If Thackeray feels so, let him go  
> to a court of law and register a case against Shahrukh for acting  
> against India. As per the Constitution, if indeed it is found to be  
> true, the court will punish Shahrukh accordingly.
>
> Instead, politics today has turned into mobocracy, whereby anybody  
> who has a mob behind him/her can do as he/she feels, irrespective  
> of the problems it creates for the others. Such politics should be  
> deplored, and anybody practicing it should be put behind bars.
>
> Rakesh

Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net