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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