Delhi-based Hindustan Express in an editorial on February 14 entitled ‘Yeh Dehshatgardi Nahin!’ (Is this not terrorism!) raises sharp questions on the Maharashtra situation: was Raj Thackeray’s crime so ordinary that the court immediately released him on bail instead of keeping him in prison, did he not commit the crime of attacking the constitution of the country, rebellion against the Indian state and harming national unity and integration?. Has this person not conspired to break the country?” The paper asks if they are “not designated terrorists because their leader is Raj Thackeray and their organisation is called Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and not JKLF?”In a page-one signed and strong editorial, Aziz Burney in Rashtriya Sahara, on February 5, has spoken of the role of industrialists — migrants from Gujarat, and Dhirubhai Ambani in particular — whose empire’s wealth has added sheen to the status of Mumbai”. Taking potshots at the Thackerays he has cited the case of several illustrious Indians who have made Mumbai their own and added to its glory. Hyderabad-based Rahnuma-e-Deccan on February 6 writes, “Raj Thackeray is playing the same Maratha card that his uncle has been playing to make the existence of his party felt.” It recalls how recently Bal Thackeray had talked about his dream of seeing a Maratha as PM of the country and had supported Sharad Pawar as candidate. The paper says, “Bal Thackeray and Shiv Sena had supported the senior Congress leader Pratibha Patil for the post of president, merely because she has Maharashtrian connections and the regional sentiments of Marathas are satisfied to see the daughter of Maharashtra as the country’s president.” Mumbai, Dehradun, Delhi and Lucknow daily, Sahafat, on February 9 writes, “the police says it is trying to locate proof but proof doesn’t walk upto the prosecutor, it needs to be collected. The proof of Raj Thackeray’s involvement is all over, why doesn’t the government collect and sift it and present it to the courts, so that the culprit doesn’t escape punishment?” Lucknow daily, Qaumi Khabrein writes, “there is no political advantage to be secured by Raj Thackeray as in the city of Mumbai, the sum of migrants is greater than the Maharashtrians. what does he hope to achieve?”Jamaat-e-Islami mouthpiece Daawat writes on February 10 in a page one editorial, “The rise of Mumbai and Maharashtra has not been on its own. Mumbai has been made the business capital not only by Maharashtrians, but each migrant has a role to play in that story.”Kidney scamIn an editorial on February 10, Rashtriya Sahara laments that whenever any such scam comes to the fore, there is alertness, but it soon turns into indifference, and is a forgotten story. The paper says, “change the law, but bear this in mind that those who want to legally and voluntarily donate kidneys should be allowed to do so.” Delhi-based Jadeed Khabar on February 9 says, “from the moment that the kidney scam has emerged, it is clear what the story behind medical tourism is. Those rich people who need kidneys, come to poor countries like India and Pakistan to buy human organs at a bargain price.” Some reservationsHindustan Express in an editorial on February 2 criticises the fact that only dalits of one community have been accorded reservations by a presidential order in 1950. It says, “the constitution should be amended and reservation provided to Muslim and Christian dalits as it is done in the case of SCs and STs.” Columnist and Urdu litterateur Hasan Kamal writing in Rashtriya Sahara on February 9 details the elaborate caste divisions among sub-continental Muslims.Responding to the claim that Islam has no caste division, he cites a recent visit to a ‘Mehtaron ki Masjid’ (Masjid for Scavengers) in Sholapur and says, “Islam has no zaat- paat (castes) but Muslims certainly do.” Senior journalist and editor, ‘Alpjan Quarterly’
