Mumbai:
When Bollywood stars don't want to admit to a relationship, they say "we're just friends." When politicians need to wriggle out of a controversy, they say they were misunderstood.
And so less than 24 hours after crash-landing into a controversy over just who can drive a taxi in Mumbai, the Maharashtra Chief Minister has said it's all been a big "misunderstanding." ''I think it has been misunderstood... we have said, he should be able to communicate in any local language which is known. In Maharashtra, Hindi, especially in Mumbai. Hindi is known, people understand Hindi, people understand English, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi. Joh be language local hai toh usko communicate hona chahiye. That's all," said Ashok Chavan.
The problem is, the Chief Minister's original statement, was remarkably different. "Only those who can read, write and speak Marathi will be employed as taxi drivers," a press release said. It also said that to be eligible to drive a taxi, applicants should have lived for at least 15 years in Maharashtra. Nearly half the city's taxi permits need to be renewed. Most of the current drivers are from North India.
And even his own partner, the National Congress Party, doesn't buy Chavan's clarification. ''If they know Hindi and Gujarati, it's good. If they know Tamil, it's even better. But they should know Marathi. I am telling you the Cabinet decision. I don't know what the Chief Minister said,'' declares Chaggan Bhujbal, the Deupty Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Chavan's statement led to an angry public and strong opposition from politicians like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Like Raj Thackeray, they alleged, the Congress government was discriminating against migrant labour, much of which comes from states like Bihar.
The criticism, combined with fears of alienating the North Indian voter, pushed Chavan to change his stand. But this has been a costly mistake for the Ashok Chavan government. It has exposed a willingness to play by the dangerously provocative rules laid down by Raj Thackeray, whose anti-migrant stand is flaunted by him as one of the reasons for his considerable success in the recent Maharashtra elections.
And as Chavan did his u-turn on taxi drivers, Thackeray swooped in for the kill. ''Have we started an Ashram for people from UP, Bihar? What about youth from Maharashtra? I'm issuing a warning. If 4,500 permits are issued then they better be issued for Marathi youth. Otherwise those 4,500 taxis won't be allowed to run.''
What Chavan offers in his defense, is weak. An old and forgotten rule in the Motor Vehicles Act which states ''A metal badge shall be issued to a person who has... working knowledge of Marathi and any one of the languages commonly spoken there.''
Chavan says he was trying to follow that principle. But his original statement said taxi drivers have to be fluent in Marathi. ''We will revise it. I am not under pressure,'' he stated on Thursday after redefining his policy to include other languages.
Like most Bollywood denials of affairs and liasions, that claim rings hollow.