Sena may be down but in Mumbai’s streets, Sainiks are up and

“I am a Maharashtrian first, then a Muslim,” he says proudly. He’s a product of the Sena. Now that his God is not in power, he’s not in mourning. He’s well-entrenched in the city’sstreets.

“People are so ungrateful,” he says, commenting on the Sena’s fall, “but don’t worry, we will be back. Two is manageable, more is always a crowd. They (the NCP-Cong government) won’t last a year.”

As a Muslim Sainik, Karim may be a rare commodity here but he’s typical of the countless lumpen Shiv Sainik youths who found succour under the Sena regime whether in legitimate or illegitimate businesses. For many, the means of livelihood was restricted to mundane small businesses: an STD phone booth, a xerox machine, a fast-food joint, a vada-pav cart, a beauty parlour or an auto rickshaw.

The trend was confirmed by Ranjana Nevalkar, secretary of the Shiv Udyog Sena and Vishwas Pandit, the assistant PRO of this Raj Thackeray venture. Almost all of the 8,645 applications for self-employment received by Raj’s organisation revolved round setting up one or the other of these small businesses.

However, many of these vada-pav carts came into being through aid from the Shiv Sena shakhas (units). Infact, the number of vada-pav roadside carts more than doubled after the Sena came to power in 1994. Another reason for the Sena’s good showing in urban Mumbai is the fact that several of these carts are run by women as also the zhunka-bhakar kendras. The phenomenon is very visible in central Mumbai and the Girgaum area of south Mumbai.

Mostly unlicensed, protection dole is paid, but there is no grudge in paying it. No unlicensed business is run without paying something to somebody. It is an accepted axiom. And these Sainiks pause to wonder only fleetingly at the change in government in the state.

“So what if they are unlicensed?” asks 51-year-old Ajit Pandit, a former shakha pramukh and now municipal councillor of the Shiv Sena. “At least they no longer indulge in goondaism. And the new government can do nothing now to reverse the process. It won’t last long anyway.”

Ranjana is equally sympathetic. “Aid from Shiv Udyog Sena is given to licensed and legitimate ventures which are verified. Even inother cases, what’s wrong in earning a livelihood? When we were in power, our hands were tied. Now if they’re in any way threatened, we will agitate,” she says, adding: “The BMC is still under our control.”

Says Pandit, “The majority of the city MLAs are ours. We have six MPs (including the one from Thane) and most of them are central ministers. The new government dare not threaten the livelihood of our vendors.”

Behind the curtains, however, it’s not all hunky-dory. During the Congress regime, a spate of illicit liquor-brewing dons flourished, some of them even became district presidents of the party. These “businesses” have been, by and large, overshadowed but some do exist and most of them are now run by pro-Sena members. After a brief lull, the matka dens are back in full form.

Says a graduate youth, in his thirties, who runs a matka joint: “We faced tough times. Known pro-Congress illicit joints were all targeted, while those run under the sponsorship of shakha pramukhs were leftuntouched. If we had to run the business, the protection money demanded was uneconomical.

Now with the new government in power, we expect more leniency from the law- enforcement agencies.” After nearly a year in hibernation, he has started his matka den again and is keeping his fingers crossed.

“With most of the major crime dons annihilated in encounters, the vacuum was being filled by our people," said a Shiv Sainik.

“With Bhujbal as Home Minister, they may selectively target our illegitimate businesses. Today most of our youth are away from goondaism, but don’t be surprised if the crime graph rises,” he says. For the average “overground” Mumbai Shiv Sainik, however, the change in the government has no real impact. It’s business as usual.