Tag Archive for ‘Bal Thackeray’ at Asian Window

Tag Archive for 'Bal Thackeray'

The Thackerays’ primitive charisma

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on February 20, 2010

in India and Politics

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Aakar Patel in Mint-Lounge:

Bal Thackeray

Politicians respond to constituencies. Their positions are deliberate.

What is the Thackerays’ constituency? Mumbai’s Marathis, whom the Thackerays speak for.

Congress does not represent Marathis in Mumbai, and they have surrendered this space politically to the Thackerays. This can be seen in their organizational structure

Neither the Mumbai regional Congress committee’s president Kripashankar Singh nor its treasurer Amarjit Singh is Marathi.

Of Mumbai Congress’ 18 vice-presidents, 12 are not Marathi. Of its 19 general secretaries, 13 are not Marathi. Of its 13 secretaries, eight are not Marathi. Of its seven executive members, none is Marathi.

Of Congress’s seven members of Parliament from Mumbai, six are not Marathi.

Of its 17 MLAs, 12 are not Marathi. Of its two housing board chairmen, neither is Marathi.

This surrender hasn’t come because Congress does not want Marathi votes, but because it cannot get them. Congress is inclusive by nature and cannot offer Mumbai’s Marathi what the Thackerays can, which is anger and resentment. More:

Shah Rukh Khan vs Shiv Sena

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on February 12, 2010

in India, Movies, Politics, Religion, Sport and environment

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Update: Mumbai calls Sena bluff as movie opens to full house

Multiplex chains in Mumbai will have only a limited release of Shah Rukh Khan’s new film “My Name Is Khan” following threats of violence by the ultra Hindu-nationalist Shiv Sena party. As things stood on Friday noon, single-screen theatres will not show the movie.

Bal Thackeray, the leader of the party, has warned that he will not allow the movie to be released unless the actor apologises for opposing the party’s call to boycott Pakistani cricket players.

Shah Rukh Khan is the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket team. He had said Pakistani stars should be included in the Indian Premier League teams. Shiv Sena supporters say that Pakistani players are not welcome in the city after the 2008 terror attacks.

Thousands of police were guarding Mumbai’s cinemas on Friday.

The movie is a classic love story set in the US after the 11 September 2001 attacks, and the Times of India’s critic has given it a rare five-star rating:

Ok, let’s get this straight from the very beginning. It’s Khan, from the epiglotis (read deep, inner recesses), not `kaan’ from the any-which-way, upper surface. In other words, it’s the K-factor — Karan (Johar) and Khan (Shah Rukh) — like you’ve never seen, sampled and savoured before. My Name is Khan is indubitably one of the most meaningful and moving films to be rolled out from the Bollywood mills in recent times. It completely reinvents both the actor and the film maker and creates a new bench mark for the duo who has given India some of the crunchiest popcorn flicks.

We’re all Shah Rukh

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on February 4, 2010

in India and Politics

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The RSS, the BJP, Mukesh Ambani and Rahul Gandhi are on the same side — against the Shiv Sena. Can Mumbai finally find its voice? Samar Halarnkar in The Hindustan Times:

On June 26, 1963, US President John F Kennedy, showing solidarity with beleaguered West Berliners, famously said (in a grammatically incorrect statement): “Ich bin ein Berliner.” I am a Berliner.

After 9/11, the French paper Le Monde declared: “We are all Americans.”

On Monday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said: “Count me as a Bihari.”

The wise often argue that silence speaks the loudest.

Not always. Not now. Not in India.

There is a reason the world’s best car companies install powerful horns in the automobiles they sell here. Indians need to say it out loud. Injustice triumphs when the powerful are silent, when standing strong only needs a voice.

So, in a city where business tsars and Bollywood stars are infamous for grovelling whenever a politician frowns, it was a relief to first hear Mukesh Ambani and later Shah Rukh Khan stick it to parochial politics and the Shiv Sena, incongruously named after Shivaji the Great.

“You can only say what you believe in and stand by it, and hopefully I will have the strength to do so,” Khan said in New York about the Sena’s threat to ban his latest movie, My Name is Khan, and to prevent his return to Mumbai. “As an Indian I’m not ashamed, guilty or unhappy about what I said, neither am I sorry.” More:

Bal Thackeray vs Sachin Tendulkar

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on November 17, 2009

in Cricket, India, Politics and Sport

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Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray

Bal Thackeray, the leader of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena, has criticised cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar over his remarks that Mumbai belonged to all Indians. The right wing party champions the rights of local people, the Maharashtrians, often with violence and intimidation. Sena offshoot the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), run by Thackeray’s nephew Raj Thackeray, has also taken up the “Maharashtra for Maharashtrians” cause.

Sachin Tendulkar had said, “I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first. And Mumbai belongs to all Indians.”

Now, in an open letter addressed to the cricketer in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray has slammed Tendulkar for “hurting Marathi sentiments.”

The Indian Express has the full text of Thackeray’s ‘open letter’ translated from Marathi:

Dear Sachin,

You have played like a king on the playground. You have got international fame, lots of money. You have not only become a lakhpati or crorepati but also an abjopati (billionaire). But nobody is complaining about it. Instead, we are proud (of you)! On the playground you are shining with a new glow. But before the Marathi mind could come to terms with your straight drive, you made a statement — “Though I am proud of being a Marathi and a Maharashtrian, I am a Hindustani first” — at a press conference, leaving cricket and venturing into politics. You have said something more: “Mumbai is not the monopoly of anyone. All people of Hindustan have an equal right over Mumbai.”

Sachin, the Marathi mind was shattered after hearing this. Was it necessary to say this when everyone is poised to grab Mumbai? Why did you take this ‘cheeky-single’ while talking about your Marathi pride? Here you are ‘run out’ on the pitch of Marathi Manoos. We don’t understand why only the Marathi Manoos get such epileptic fits? (You don’t know) how Marathi Manoos secured Mumbai, as you were not even born then. Maneater Murderji Morarji Desai had gone on a rampage. This rampage resulted in Marathi Manoos bleeding on the streets. Hundred-and-five Marathi people sacrificed their lives for Mumbai. This Mumbai can’t belong to the father of any parprantiya (people belonging to another region). More:

Raj Thackeray: The nephew also rises

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on October 23, 2009

in India, Indian elections 2009, Leaders and Politics

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In Mint, Niranjan Rajadhyaksha profiles Raj Thackeray, whose fledgeling party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a breakaway faction of his uncle’s right wing Shiv Sena, won a dozen seats in the state election.

Mumbai: There are two political events in Mumbai where crowds do not have to be hired and trucked in to create a false show of strength: the death anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar on 6 December and the annual Dusshera rally addressed by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. These are the two days when loyalists come on their own in packed trains, alight at Dadar railway station and then walk another 15 minutes to reach the Shivaji Park area where the city’s big political rallies are traditionally held.

So old timers in Maharashtrian-dominated area took notice of the fact that this was happening all over again when Raj Thackeray held a political rally. It was an advance warning to other political parties that the leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had struck a chord with his growing band of supporters, even as his divisive political acts threatened Mumbai’s famed cosmopolitan culture and made him the man many love to hate. More:

Prohibition and the king of good times

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on July 21, 2009

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Namita Bhandare in Mint: Prohibition has failed wherever it has sought to be enforced. But alcohol-related deaths are a serious problem — and not all occur after drinking illegal hooch. What’s the middle path, then?

Vijay Mallya is just not my type. Bal Thackeray—perish the thought—is even less of my type. Yet, last week I found myself in the bizarre position of actually being in partial agreement with these two bearded gentlemen, of course, with the usual qualifications.

First, Mallya. Following the hooch tragedy in Ahmedabad, where at least 122 people died after drinking illegally brewed liquor, Mallya came down hot and heavy on Gujarat’s prohibition policy (it’s the only state in the country where prohibition continues to be enforced) and on the “political hypocrites” who control that policy. A few days later, Saamna—the Shiv Sena-run newspaper—carried a lead edit that said it was in complete agreement with Mallya. “Pursuing Gandhism is pointless as the prohibition policy has been a monumental failure in the country, and Gujarat as well,” declared the editorial. more

Raj Thackeray on his politics and policies

Published

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on May 1, 2009

in India, Indian elections 2009 and Politics

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Financial Times interviews the founder of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) or Maharashtra Renaissance Army:

FT: Do you believe there has been too much immigration into Mumbai?

Raj Thackeray: Every city or state has a limited capacity with regards to its ability to provide adequate facilities. The taxpayer is entitled to some essential things. Families should be able to provide their children with playgrounds and find places for them in schools. There should be enough hospitals. Water should be provided to all. Surplus electricity should be available. The taxpayer should be comfortable. Today there is such an influx [of people] that 40,000 live in slums next to the pipeline that provides water to the city of Mumbai. Then there is the issue of terrorism. We do not know who is a terrorist and who is a migrant worker…

FT: You’ve stated that the city lacks the capacity to house an influx of non-Maharastrian people. Should these people be stopped from coming.

Raj Thackeray: You have to stop these people from coming in because we have reached the maximum capacity of the city of Mumbai. We do not have places [for them] to stay. And then these people coming from outside and encroach upon municipal and government lands and set up slums. In today’s Mumbai, can you take your children out safely? Is there a place? Is there an open garden where parents can safely take their children out in the evenings? And then we have this daily influx of families. How will we discover who is a terrorist and who is a normal person? More:

The other Gandhi

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on March 20, 2009

in Indian elections 2009

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With his communal speech-making in Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi is trying to carve out an identity as Hindutva’s new poster boy and strike out as a Gandhi in his own right, writes Rajdeep Sardesai in the Hindustan Times.

In the backlanes of Uttar Pradesh, Varun Feroze Gandhi is referred to as the ‘BJP ka Gandhi’. It’s a reference that is indicative of what’s been perhaps the 29-year-old poet-politician’s central dilemma in life so far: the struggle to carve an independent identity for himself outside of the Nehru-Gandhi legacy. His cousin, Rahul, has been bequeathed the keys to the family business. His aunt Sonia is the Supreme Leader of the Indian National Congress. Varun, and his mother, Maneka, have always been the ‘outsiders’, blessed with the surname of India’s most powerful political family but without any of the privileges.

Which is why the ‘other Gandhis’ have been forced to look for other career options. Maneka has found her niche in the world of animal rights activism. Varun too, judging from the content of his speeches in Pilibhit, now appears to have found his feet as the BJP’s new Hindutva posterboy.

Previously on AW:

Varun Gandhi’s hate speech

The real slum shady

Published

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on January 17, 2009

in Movies

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Posted by Namita Bhandare:

My column in this morning’s Hindustan Times is in response to Amitabh Bachchan’s blog comments on Slumdog Millionaire

HOW ON earth did they allow Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire to be shot in Mumbai? By ‘they’, of course, I mean the commissars of culture, the faithful watchdogs of our beloved Bharat Mata on constant vigil against evil imperialists making movies about our wretched poverty, our pathetic widows and our sad child marriages. Yet, here was Boyle apparently free to film Mum- bai’s undeniable seamier side. Had he had several warm beers with Bal Thackeray in an attempt to buy peace? Had he become best friends with the nephew? How was he allowed to let it all hang out: beggar gangs that maim children, piles of rotting garbage, cops who assume torture as part of routine interrogation, small time bhais and fat cat TV anchors? Where were the howls of protest?

Continue reading ‘The real slum shady’

Parivaar politics

Published

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on November 11, 2008

in Politics

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Posted by Namita Bhandare:

My latest column in Mint takes a look at how deep dynastic politics runs in India

The most startling thing to me about Congress party general secretary Margaret Alva’s outburst on television was not that she was criticizing her party at a public forum (rare in these days of sycophancy), or even the seriousness of her allegation that tickets in Karnataka were sold (and it’s a measure of our cynicism that we accept that this as not uncommon across political parties).

For me, the startling thing was that her complaint—her son had been overlooked for a party ticket in Karnataka, while the relatives of politicians in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan seemed to have no problem getting tickets—didn’t whip up a bigger storm.

Alva was not protesting against a system of patronage. Quite the opposite. Her argument: If the relatives of other politicians are given tickets to contest elections, then why not reward my son, too?

Holding Mumbai to ransom

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on October 26, 2008

in India, Leaders and Politics

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Why attacking Bhaiyyas in Mumbai makes sense for Raj Thackeray — and why this makes sense to the ruling Congress-NCP alliance. S Balakrishnan in The Times of India.

Consider this. Most of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray’s business after Raj’s vast business associates are non-Marathis. His confindante, Sunil Harshe is based in Dubai, look after his vast interests in the UAE. Both Thackeray’s children are at English-medium schools. His son, who entered college this year, chose to study German instead of Marathi. When Thackeray was part of the Shiv Sena, he would often oblige non-Marathi contractors looking for work with the Sena-controlled Mumbai municipal corporation. Thackeray also smokes the best imported cigarettes and sips high-end Scotch and cognac. He loves to drive a Mercedes or Pajero and is a charming host even if his guests don’t speak Marathi. Raj Thackeray is the most cosmopolitan Mumbaikar one could meet at Shivaji Park, where he lives in an elegant penthouse.

Thackeray & Thackeray vs Bachchan & Khan

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on September 7, 2008

in Leaders

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[Updated September 11]

Posted by Namita Bhandare:

First my column in the Hindustan Times, ‘Thuggery means always having to say sorry’

Hum UP ke log hain, hume Hindi mein baat karni chahiye
- Jaya Bachchan at the promotion of Drona in Mumbai.

If you are from Delhi, then why have you come to Maharashtra?
- Bal Thackeray to Shah Rukh Khan in an editorial in Saamna

Actress and Rajya Sabha MP (Samajwadi Party) Jaya Bachchan’s apparently casual remark sparked off a furore, with Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) declaring a boycott of all Bachchan films unless the actress apologised for ‘insulting’ the people of Maharashtra. With three Bachchan films due to be released over the next few weeks, Jaya Bachchan lost no time in saying how very sorry she was. No good, said Raj. The apology would have to be at a public forum in the presence of the Marathi media. It’s over to Mrs Bachchan now.

Now, for the Dramatis Personae

1. Bal Thackeray: cartoonist and founder of the Shiv Sena party that made much of Marathi asmita in the 1960s, chiefly targeting South Indians as the evil outsiders who had no business to be in the state. Now an ageing patriarch, he lives in a house calleed Matoshri (in Bandra) surrounded by armed guards and his son, Uddhav Thackeray. Also, edits a newspaper called Saamna where front-page editorials written by him are treated like the gospel. Latest target: Shah Rukh Khan, who he says is a Delhi boy (“If you are from Delhi then why have you come to Maharashtra?”).

2. Raj Thackeray: nephew of Bal Thackeray, once very close, but once the uncle made it clear that his son, Uddhav was the true inheritor of the SS, Raj walked out of the party and of Matoshri to launch his own party called the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena. Now, Raj makes headlines by talking of Marathi asmita, but he is targetting North Indians (like Amitabh Bachchan) as the evil outsiders who have no business in the state.

3. Amitabh Bachchan: Bollywood’s icon-in-chief and, more recently, Big Blogger, was born in Allahabad (in Uttar Pradesh), stood for an election from there and, more recently, starred in a TV ad promoting the state (under his close friend, the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party). Recently said UP was his janmabhoomi while Mumbai was his karmabhoomi. Attacked by Raj in February for promoting UP; AB responded by saying the Constitution gave him the right to live where he chose. Very close to Thackeray senior who has defended him saying he is a big star who belongs to the entire nation, not to any particular state (unlike Shah Rukh who is merely a Dilliwala!).

4. Jaya Bachchan: Actress and Rajya Sabha member for the Samajwadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav (please see above). In February she clarified that she did not know any Raj Thackeray but that Bal Thackeray was like a father to her (and Uddhav, a son). Recently, sparked off an outrage by remarking, “Hum UP ke log hai, hume Hindi mein baat karni chahiye (we are from Uttar Pradesh and should speak in Hindi),” at a promotion for the film Drona, which stars her son, Abhishek. Raj Thackeray now wants all Bachchan films banned unless Jaya B apologies. With three Bachchan films scheduled for release, including The Last Lear this Friday (plans for its premiere are on hold), Jaya B was quick to say she was very sorry. Not good enough, says Raj. He wants a public apology.

5. Shah Rukh Khan: Bollywood’s other big icon (also called the Badshah of Bollywood) who, it is widely rumoured, has a long-standing rivalry with Amitabh Bachchan (roundly denied by both). He’s a Delhi boy who made good in Mumbai. Said to be also be close to the Congress party and to the Gandhi clan (with whom the Bachchans are katti, following Amitabh Bachchan’s growing proximity to Mulayam and the Samajwadi Party parivaar, with whom the Congress currently has an electoral understanding). Targeted by Bal Thackeray for coming to Maharashtra from Delhi to earn fame and wealth. (Read what BalT said here).

The Plot

The Uttar Pradesh-Maharashtra sons of the soil debate just got messier after an apparently off-the-cuff remark made by Jaya Bachchan, actress and Rajya Sabha MP (Samajwadi Party) on the sidelines of a film promotion.

That remark has united the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS), the parties headed by Bal and Raj Thackeray respectively. The uncle and nephew have not been seeing eye to eye and in a move seen as a direct revolt against Thackeray senior, Raj stormed out of the Shiv Sena and launched his MNS party in 2006.

Ever since, Raj has been an angry young man (a role played to perfection by Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya’s husband) in search of a just cause. But why reinvent the wheel? Raj merely picked up where his uncle had left off, taking on the role of messiah for Marathi asmita (pride) and the Marathi manoos.

So, while Bal Thackeray cut his political teeth in Maharashtra by attacking such undesirable ‘outsiders’ as Tamilians and other South Indians, Raj has concentrated on North Indian ‘bhaiyya and bania’ outsiders.

In February this year, Raj managed to provoke responses from Lalu Yadav, the rail minister from Bihar and Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar (who called Raj a shaitan) with his remarks on North Indians who celebrate festivals like chhat puja in Maharashtra.

At around the same time, he also managed to draw Amitabh Bachchan into his little soap opera by claiming that Bachchan — Indian cinema’s biggest icon ever — seemed more concerned about Uttar Pradesh (he was born in Allahabad, stood for a Lok Sabha election from there and is currently very close to Mulayam Singh Yadav, the former chief minister whose party has given his wife a ticket in the Upper House).

Amitabh responded by declaring loftily that the Constitution granted him the right to live and work wherever he chose in India. Jaya went a step further by declaring that she did not know any Raj Thackeray. “I know Bal Thackeray who is like a father to me and his son, Uddhav who is like my son,” she said, dismissing the ousted nephew.

Now, the nephew is on the rampage saying no film starring any Bachchan will be allowed to be released unless Jaya apologises for her language remark and for ’insulting’ the Marathi people. Incidentally, Drona stars both Abhishek and Jaya Bachchan, while Amitabh Bachchan’s The Last Lear is scheduled for a Friday, September 12 release. Plans for its premiere have been put on hold.

Amitabh Bachchan has chosen to respond to this particular controversy on his blog (see response here). But the stand-off remains.

But in a strange twist of events, the Shiv Sena has also got drawn into the controversy with a party spokesman declaring that Jaya should go to states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala and propagate Hindi there. Having said that, Bal Thackeray has now clarified that Amitabh Bachchan is a star who belongs to all of India, while Shah Rukh Khan — Bachchan’s chief rival who is close to the Congress party and the younger Gandhis– is a Dilliwala who basically has no business to be in Mumbai.

For the full story on Reuters click here.

Safe to say, you haven’t heard the last word on this one.

Sarkar Raj: The importance of being the Bachchans

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on June 5, 2008

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Bollywood’s first family, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan come together for the first time (post marriage) in a film, Sarkar Raj which is set to hit theatres on Friday. Kaveree Bamzai takes a look at the Bachchan clan in India Today

Amitabh Bachchan, patriarch of Bollywood’s first family, the all-time highest grossing Hindi film star of 134 films with a cumulative boxoffice revenue of over Rs 3,700 crore, the face of 20 brands, and currently the nation’s best-known blogger, is busy.

He has his arms around the waists of his son, Abhishek, and daughter-in-law Aishwarya, and he’s tickling them. Abhishek keeps a straight face, but Aishwarya can’t help bursting into her trademark laugh.

“People keep saying that I giggle,” she says. “They should see what I have to put up with sometimes.” Abhishek has already mock-threatened his father for getting too close to his wife of just over a year.

He asks Aishwarya, “is this as close as we can get?” Amitabh is complaining about his son spoiling his hairdo while Aishwarya is being shown a mirror by her husband’s make-up artist.

And Amitabh Bachchan blogs about Sarkar and palace politics here.

Tiger burning bright

Published

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on January 31, 2008

in Leaders

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Last week, Bal Thackeray announced his disdain for the ‘Modi pattern’ and the ‘Mayawati pattern’, and reiterated the Shiv Sena’s special relationship with Sharad Pawar. What did he really mean, asks Kumar Ketkar in The Indian Express

A roaring tiger with menacing eyes is a symbol of the Shiv Sena. But the Sena supremo has the mind of a fox. The BJP leadership is often in awe of Balasaheb Thackeray — not just the state leadership but also the high command. Balasaheb knows this and enjoys outwitting them. So it was no surprise to Balasaheb watchers when he suddenly announced last week that Maharashtra will have ‘only the Shiv Sena pattern’ and not the ‘Modi pattern’. To drill the point home, he declared that not even the ‘Mayawati pattern’ will have any relevance in the state. Actually, he need not have brought Mayawati into this matrix.

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Remembering Bapu

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on January 30, 2008

in Leaders and Religion

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On Gandhi’s death anniversary today: Rev Jesse Jackson visits India and there is quite a bit of introspection on the legacy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and his relevance to the world today.

First, historian and author (India After Gandhi) Ramachandra Guha argues in the Hindustan Times that Gandhi cannot be understood without the context of his faith and religious belief but it was a faith that was of vital assistance in promoting peace and harmony between people who worship different Gods, or no God at all:

Many years ago, I had an argument with the philosopher Ramchandra (Ramu) Gandhi about his grandfather’s faith. I had always admired the Mahatma, but my secular-socialist self sought to rid him of the spiritual baggage which seemed unnecessary to his broader message. Could we not follow Gandhi in his empathy for the poor and his insistence on non-violence while rejecting the religious idiom in which these ideas were cloaked? Ramu Gandhi argued that the attempt to secularise Gandhi was both mistaken and misleading. If you take the Mahatma’s faith out of him, he told me, then Gandhi would not be the Mahatma. His religious beliefs were central to his political and social philosophy – in this respect, the man was the message.

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In the Times of India, political psychologist Ashis Nandy analyses the ‘fear of Gandhi’ and the middle-class antipathy towards him that has only become stronger in the global knowledge industry:

On the 60th year of the murder of Mohandas Gandhi, we must recognise the ambivalence towards him in India’s modernising middle classes. Gandhi was not killed by British imperialism or Muslim fanatics, but by middle-class Hindu nationalists committed to conventional concepts of statecraft, progress and diplomacy. He was not killed by a lunatic, as Nehru alleged, but by one who represented ‘normality’ and ’sanity’.

The middle-class antipathy to Gandhi cuts across ideologies. During one of her earlier tenures, Mayawati precipitated a first-class public controversy by attacking Gandhi. But she was only joining a long line of distinguished critics of Gandhi, stretching from Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the classical liberal turned Muslim nationalist, to Bal Thackeray of the Shiv Sena. New, aggressive critics of Gandhi are now being thrown up by the knights of globalisation in India.

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And, finally, political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta in The Indian Express argues that Gandhi achieved more in death than in his life, which in the 1940s had become marginal to the new forms of Indian politics:

Gandhi’s gloriously original and inventive life continues to be extraordinarily fascinating. But his assassination remains shrouded in embarrassed silence. At the Indira Gandhi memorial, visitors are subjected to the details of her assassination. Gandhi, on the other hand is memorialised, but not primarily through Birla House, a monument that still does not have its rightful place in the historical itineraries of Delhi. There is a simple story we have told about the assassination: Gandhi was killed by a fanatic representing the fringes of society, and that is that. But for a life whose every gesture was overloaded with meaning, the interpretive silence over Gandhi’s assassination itself begs for interpretation. Was it the enormity of that crime that silences us? Or was it its marginality? Were the perpetrators distant from us? Or was there a wider complicity, if not with the assassination itself, with the sentiments that fuelled it? The question, ‘Why was Gandhi killed’, is an easy one to answer only if we deliberately shut ourselves to the complex political realities of the time.

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