Manohar Joshi Speaks New Sena Language

It is the same person, but the language is different. In tune with Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackerays new approach towards the minority community, Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi has also changed tack. Gone is the firebrand language, there is less of the hardline attitude for which the Shiv Sena is known.

Indeed, it appears that like Thackeray, Joshi too is talking the language of the Bharatiya Janata Party: cautious Hindutva mixed with sweet reasonableness.

At the Press Club of India yesterday, Joshi left many confounded at the distinct change in his world-view.

There is a new approach altogether towards Muslims. The Shiv Sena is taking a broad approach to men and matters. We have tried to ensure that there are no communal riots in Maharashtra...What Thackeray says today, everybody will accept tomorrow. He spoke about Hindutva 30 years ago, now everyone is talking about it, he said.

 

Joshi explained Thackerays suggestion that a national monument should be built at Ayodhya by saying that it was a pragmatic suggestion. If a Ram temple cannot be built at the disputed place, there is no other alternative but to build a national monument, he reasoned. He went a step further and suggested that the monument could be named after the revolutionary, Mangal Pandey.

Unlike some time ago, when Thackeray and his partymen gloated over the demolition in Ayodhya, Joshi was at pains to duck a pointed question: Does he still approve of the demolition? He was similarly non-committal on a question on his partys stand on the dispute at Mathura and Varanasi. Thackeray recently played host to the Pakistan high commissioner in Mumbai.

According to Joshi, the Shiv Sena has become a national party, more known in the country than we wanted.

During the 1996 elections, the party contested 20 seats and won 15. This time, he says the party would contest 22 seats, and hoped to win 20 of them.

He welcomed the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance in Maharashtra, and said it would consolidate the votes of the other section of people in favour of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.

Joshi announced a three-point agenda that the BJP-led alliance would have to pursue in the event of coming to power: total literacy, curbing growth of population, and inculcating a fierce sense of nationalism in students from an early age.

Joshi said it was very sad that the United Front government was not cooperative in securing the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in several cases in Mumbai. If the BJP formed the next government at the Centre, he said this would be the first issue he would pursue.

He would also ensure that clearances for several pending projects in the state were cleared soon.

It took me more than two years to get the clearance for the Mumbai-Pune highway. The Centre should bring forests in the state list, also matters relating to environment clearances.

The traffic problem in Mumbai cannot be solved because officials in Delhi just sit and do nothing. We do no accept that the Centre alone is wise and understand everything. The states too can handle important matters, Joshi said.