Why The People Of Mumbai Shouldn't Trust Shiv Sena

 

There are various moments that has showcased the inadequacy of Shiv Sena to govern the state of Maharashtra. They have used the Marathi sentiment wisely and gotten their votes. There are so many cases pending against the party members and they walk free. They have always taken violence as a weapon to scare the public away. People who oppose them are beaten up and they are defamed. 

It's now up to current generation to make their decision and choose wisely. So that they have better future. 

These are the few reasons why Shiv Sena is incapable of governing a state: 

1. They don't care about public health and maintenance of infrastructure

Bandra's Kala Nagar, where Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray resides, faced water-logging and demanded the saffron party, which heads the city's civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), apologise to citizens for "submerging" the city.

25 lives were lost in wall collapse incidents in Malad, Kalyan, Pune. Roads got washed away in Mumbai. Isn't corruption equally responsible for this as is rains? The government might give 'clean chit' to all responsible in this corruption. But will that bring back the lives lost? But is there any assurance that such incidents will not repeat?

Local citizens and those from outside Mumbai are stranded at various places in the city and alleged they were not getting any help and information on when the railways will resume operations.

2. Uddhav Thackeray has failed to handle Covid crisis

A national calamity is not the time for a political attack. It is time to stand by the government. But when the sheer ineptitude and stubbornness of the government endangers the safety of people, it becomes important to seek accountability. Asking questions is a responsibility.

Uddhav Thackeray government has failed to handle the coronavirus situation in Maharashtra, so, it is important that the central government brings in the Army to handle the slums of Dharavi and Govandi in Mumbai. If proper protocols are followed, these areas might require up to 10 lakh tests — the state government looks unprepared to handle it, or its aftermath.

The Maharashtra Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP coalition government’s inability to get its act together even after a month has put the city of Mumbai at grave risk.

Is there an official war room at all in Maharashtra to manage Covid-19? Has Thackeray pulled up the home minister Anil Deshmukh in the wake of his unending failures? Is Mumbai entirely outsourced to the BMC? Is the CM being updated at all by the health minister? (By the way, both home and health ministries are with NCP). Moreover, how many of the state ministers have visited the districts that are assigned to them as guardian ministers or have they treated the lockdown as a holiday?

Considering that even 40 days after the detection of the first Covid-19 case in Mumbai, the state government is struggling to get its act together, there is a growing sentiment among the informed classes that Army deployment in the slums of Dharavi and Govandi is needed to save Mumbai.

With 1,936 cases distributed pretty much equally across the city, and with the slum clusters of Dharavi and Govandi emerging as the new hotspots, anyone who knows Mumbai even remotely would know the damage the city is staring at. Worli, with nearly 400 cases, by the way, is Aaditya Thackeray’s constituency.

What makes the situation intriguing is the unabated, relentless rise of new containment zones after 24 days of lockdown (Maharashtra has been lockdown since 22 March), which obviously makes a mockery of lockdown compliance.

Maharashtra and Kerala were nearly at the same level two weeks ago. Now, as Maharashtra struggles, Kerala has been able to successfully flatten the curve.

Umpteen images and videos from across the city in the last three weeks attest that the lockdown has been shambolic.

Let us look at some more outrageous lockdown violations.

— A Thane engineer allegedly gets picked up by NCP workers on 5 April for a Facebook post. They take him to the house of NCP minster, Jitendra Awhad. There, the engineer is beaten black and blue, in the presence of Awhad’s police bodyguards. Two of the policemen, arrested for beating the man, have tested positive for Covid-19. The NCP councillor from Thane, Milind Patil has claimed that Jitendra Awhad had tested positive for Covid19, which, if true, means, that apart from unleashing violence, the minister, is also a ‘super spreader’. Has Uddhav Thackeray considered action against Awhad? Now reports claim Awhad has tested negative, while 14 people who came in contact with him have tested Covid-positive.

— The hasty and sudden permission given by principal secretary of the Maharashtra home department, Amitabh Gupta to 23 members of the Wadhawan family to travel to Mahabaleshwar during the lockdown, stands well exposed. Apart from the official having been sent on leave, no investigation followed.

— Let us not forget that a significant number of Tablighis from Maharashtra who attended the Nizamuddin markaz congregation have not been traced. Last week, Anil Deshmukh had claimed that 58 markaz attendees were incommunicado. This week he has claimed that 40 out of 58 have been traced. Considering Deshmukh’s credibility crisis, these numbers can be taken only with a pinch of salt.

— The massive migrant workers’ crowd outside Bandra station on 14 April, is mired in mystery. The fact that 3,000 people could congregate in the heart of Bandra when I have personally found it difficult to even step out to the grocers’ raises several questions. The fact that a similar congregation happened in Mumbra, the stronghold of Jitendra Awhad, and the fact that the arrested alleged instigator, Vinay Dubey, whose social media posts flaunt his proximity to NCP leaders, does not look coincidental. Equally shocking is a purported video from the site of chaos in Bandra where the migrant workers were supposedly being tutored to rebel.

The above incidents clearly show that CM Uddhav Thackeray has little or no knowledge of what his home minister or other cabinet ministers are up to.

3. They lack tolerance and resort to violence

Some of the Shiv Sena cadre assaulted a person in Mumbai for making a post against their CM and party leader Uddhav Thackeray. According to a Times of India report, 25-30 people beat up the victim and tonsured him for criticising Thackeray’s Jamia-Jallianwala Bagh comparison. Although Shiv Sena is not new to this kind of response—Shiv Sainiks had ransacked the hospital of the relative of the girl who had commented on Bal Thackeray’s death—domineering has become common across political lines. 

If earlier attacks targeted people hurting or insulting religious sentiments, the rise in violent responses to expression of dissent shows political leaders themselves being granted god-like status. The deification has led to party cadre getting aggravated when citizens rightfully question their leaders, having chilling effects on freedom of expression, both online and offline—in the present instance, the victim was beaten up despite having deleted the offending post following threats. In the absence of strict police action, such cases are fast becoming a menace. The amount of frivolous litigation by party supporters against those criticising political leaders has been increasing. The episode reveals the hypocrisy of even those decrying intolerance.

We've given our opinion and showcased why Shiv Sena should not be trusted by the public of Maharashtra. They are just corrupt politicians using the public for their personal gain. We all research so much before buying a mobile phone but don't even do that, level of research before casting our vote. We all should value our vote and choose what would benefit the entire state and the nation. So, please,do your research and also, educate and encourage others to read more about a party before voting for them. If we all had done that, parties like Shiv Sena wouldn't have come into existence. 

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