In the death of Bal Thacaray one mighty figure of India has collapsed. His death is like a fall of an empire, fall of a Himalaya mountain and fall of an ocean. The might and height of Maharasra and Maharastrians was surrounded around his personality. He was disliked for his arrogance by many but loved by his Marathi followers in plenty. The sea of humanity comprising around 2.5 millions attending his funeral speaks volumes of his work for his Marathi people in Mahrastra in general and Mumbai in particular. He was such a towering figure in Maharastra that when he gave a command for Mumbai to stop it would stop moving an inch further. Though many times he used militant methods and inflammatory slogans yet he showed total patriotism for his Maharastra and its citizens even by inflicting pain on non - Maharastrians. Though many times parochial in his thinking yet he elevated the standard of his Marathi people. He worked tirelessly to give his Marathi people a sense of identity and importance where his people before his advent on the scene were neglected and ignored.
Even thou he had many flaws yet I admire his campaign for the ‘Sons of the Soil’ theory which he put into practice though in this direction militancy he used I abhor. I admire his guts and courage to implement his ideology fearlessly. Yet the ‘goondagiri’ his supporters used to gain their goals is surely condemnable. Many times his Sainiks by using unfair and crude methods to get their work done brought bad name for his party labelling it as the party of ‘goondas’. His hatred for Muslims has made him half fledged and not full fledged Indian. To call Indian Muslims as anti - Indian is wrong. If Indian Muslims are anti-Indian they would migrate to Pakistan and settle there. Indian Muslims are as Indian as any Indian living on the soil of India.
I was just a student at the Postgraduate Center in Panjim and Taj Group of Hotels after completing its Taj Hotel at Sinquerim falling under Candolim Panchayat were neglecting the locals in employment and instead against all the earlier promises to give locals preferential treatment in employment there instead started to give preferential treatment to non-locals. I was aware of the campaign Bal Thackary was waging in Bombay to protect the interest of Maharastrians with the principle of ‘Sons of the Soil’ theory and gaining benefits for the Maharastrians. Taking cue from Bal Thackaray’s campaign in Bombay I also started my campaign in support of the Sons of the Soil theory against Taj Sinquerim of employment there of non-locals and ignoring the locals. In this campaign I received strong backing and co-operation from my Candolim friend Alex Pinto and of course my brothers, parents, sisters and other like minded locals as well.
To implement our campaign and to put it into practice, myself and Alex Pinto during his maiden visit to Taj Sinquerim, at Sinquerim itself we both of us peacefully stopped the imported Mercedes Car of J.R.D. Tata in which he was travelling from Dabolim to Sinquerim along with his wife and Secretary all seated on rear seat while Lenny Menezes the General Manager of the Taj Sinquerim sitting on the front seat. We then and there informed Mr. Tata of our grievances and demanded preferential treatment for the locals in the employment at Taj Sinquerim before we take recourse to other civilised methods to correct the Hotel policy in favour of the locals..
Soon the locals were given preferential treatment. Meantime feelers started pouring to me to join Taj if I am interested or even an offer to go to England for studies in the Hotel Management. The so called local bigwigs became jealous of the success of our campaign but they were pigmies to deal with me. I was fearless like Thackary. I had strong conviction in my principle that what I was doing was right. Similarly I was planning to spread my campaign elsewhere in Goa for the benefit of Goans but as destined I had to leave Goa for Kuwait.
While concluding, let the soul of Bal Thackeray Rest In Peace and may Heavenly God forgive him for the atrocities his Sainiks committed rightly or wrongly at his behest against Muslims and others.
Will posterity remember him as a true Indian or only a true Maharastrian? Will his name remain ingrained in the history books as an extraordinary man or just a Marathi Hindu fanatic and the promoter of communalism? Time alone will give this answer.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
