NCP in a tight spot after attack on Ketkar¿s home

BY Kiran Thakur| IN Media Freedom | 08/06/2008

The attack on the residence of Loksatta Editor Kumar Ketkar on June 5th has put the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in a tight spot.

The attack exploded the myth that Sharad Pawar¿s NCP has his firm grip on its affairs at least in Maharashtra. How else could the party¿s former MLC Vinayak Mete who is vice president of NCP¿s state unit engineer the vandalism that tarnished its image, ask the critics.

The vandals of Shiv Sangram, of which Mete is the founder president, carried saffron flags as they heaped abuses, hurled stones, and kicked the door of Ketkar¿s residence in Thane. The Shiv Sangram was otherwise a little known organisation outside the state until TV channels broadcast the 20-minute attack throughout the day. Mete was not present at the time of the attack, but claimed its responsibility when media contacted him over the phone.

Mete insisted that he too believed in freedom of expression. He argued, however, that learned persons like Ketkar should also be careful in writing about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who is worshipped by everyone in Maharashtra. The organisation has been demanding since 1993 that the Chhatrapati¿s monument be erected in the Arabian sea off Mumbai coast. It was after 15 years that the state government conceded the demand and earmarked Rs. 100 crore for the monument last week.

Ketkar¿s sarcasm in his article opposing the proposal has infuriated Shiv Sangram¿s workers and the incident was the manifestation of their ire.

Mete who belongs to Maharashtra¿s Beed district was nominated to the state legislative council twice. He had on April 21, 2000, resigned the seat to make room for Food and Civil Supplies Minister Datta Meghe to be a member of the upper house.

An agency story had then stated that Mete was  nominated to the upper house by Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in 1996. He switched over to Congress and subsequently to NCP.

Only about two months ago, he had launched an agitation to press the demand for jobs only to sons-of-the-soil. He had dropped the demand after the party leaders advised him not to add fuel to the fire started by the Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray¿s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

Mete¿s sympathisers were perplexed to hear about the attack, as this was not his style of politics. He has built up Shiv Sangram sanghatana which effectively functioned as an arm of the NCP, mobilising support mostly of Marathas. The Sanghatna has a network throughout the state.

After protests from media in the state and more importantly from Delhi, the NCP began a damage control exercise. A show cause notice was slapped on Mete, reportedly at the best of Sharad Pawar who was abroad when the journalists protested against the attack on freedom of press.

The state NCP sought to distance from Mete and Shiv Sangram, but there were few takers to the statements made by the party¿s state leaders.

Mete¿s supporters were puzzled due to the violent attack also because even Ketkar described him as a friend. The editor had agreed a day earlier to carry Mete¿s rejoinder in Loksatta.       

It will be interesting to watch the action the Congress-NCP alliance government takes in the case. There are sceptics who believe that nothing would come out after the investigations as there is no political will.

These sceptics point out that the government has not taken any action after another pro-Maratha organisation had vandalised Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune some four years ago.

The alliance government, particularly Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R R Patil, who belongs to the NCP, is already in a tight spot because of the open defiance of Raj Thackeray in recent weeks. The MNS has organised rallies in Mumbai and Pune and Raj has spoken what he wanted to speak. The government response was that it would take action after carefully studying the legal aspects of the Raj¿s defiance.

There are some other points that need to be considered in connection with the attack on Ketkar¿s house. Two days after the incident, only ten attackers could be taken into custody although each of those who participated in the vandalism should have been identified by the Thane police quickly. The footage aired throughout the day showed actions of each of them and the police claimed that it had in its possession the TV coverage.   

That takes us to the next point: The incident established once again that even small outfits can garner publicity appointing a private videographer to shoot an event and pass on the footage to the TV channels. Shiv Sangram did just that. It had planned its action in the morning so that the channels would have fodder for the entire day.