Nashik: I have been a little out of the whole Varun Gandhi controversy, what with waking up early morning and dashing around, I haven't had much time for national news. But I have just learnt a lesson about people who practice hate politics.
Being in Nashik we had to chase the story of whether the waves of hate still lingered among Raj Thakeray's men. Mansa (as MNS is referred to here) still evokes a sense of fear among the UP, Bihar migrants. They expected the backlash to come back at any point. What was interesting was that they believed the Shiv Sena was not against bhaiyyas, that they were different from the venom spewing Mansa.
Mansa was fielding candidates in the area so we thought we should go there and just see what new message of hate they were spreading. Wanted to know whether it was a subtle message or whether they openly slammed a community. Of course, we also wanted to know how this was received. Does the common man cheer at hearing someone talk of hate or do they feel uncomfortable? When I saw Varun Gandhi's infamous speech, I remember thinking that his audience wasn't loving it. So who was voting for Mansa or who would vote for Varun? Mansa had shown its popularity in Nashik's civic body elections with 13 members being elected to the 100-strong body. Did they all vote because they wanted migrants to be beaten out of town?
Maybe not. When we arrived, Mansa was busy inaugurating its election office in Nashik. They looked cordial enough so we just asked- are you appealing for votes by promising to beat up more migrants?
Not at all, they said. We are promising them development. Development in the form of bijli and sadak. They showed us a pamphlet of their candidate. They pointed out how it displayed very clearly the fact that he was an engineer. It also listed various projects he was going to complete.
Now I realise they may have been lying and all this was, you know, poll talk that they don't mean. But it's interesting that even the Mansa has figured out development sells, not hate. Maybe, Raj Thakeray should share some secrets with Varun, no?