A few questions for Shiv Sena

Dear Udhavji,

First of all congratulations for winning over your cousin to get into the headlines in the last fortnight.

that was really smart of you. After you lost the last assembly elections, people had started having 'low' views about you. But any ways u have made a good comeback, after discovering the mantra: find an 'enemy', threaten and scare them, commit the odd violent act, and, eureka!

Atleast you are more brave than your cousin who lashes out to the faceless taxi drivers and North indian students and other unprotected soft targets. It actually takes courage to hit out at national icons like Sachin and SRK and even the powerful Mukesh Ambani.

So i have got a few questions for you

Q1. Your father and your party has always had problems with the 'Indian Muslim Identity"

for eg. your father had questioned Dilip Kumar's patriotism for accepting an award from the Pakistani government. Not surprisingly, you've called Shah Rukh a traitor for wishing to choose Pakistani cricketers in the IPL. However why is it okay when your father invited, Javed Miandad the former Pakistani captain and a close relation of the notorious Dawood Ibrahim to your own house.

Q2. The Sena has always enjoyed an excellent relation with the corporate India....

Why then criticise India's biggest businessman for suggesting that Mumbai belongs to all?

Especially when it cannot be denied that, Mumbai is what it is because of the entrepreneurs belonging to the communities across India.

Q3. It is strange that you lashed out at Sachin as well! The question is 'WHY', especially when even you will agree that, he like Lata Mangeshkar, symbolizes Maharashtrian pride in a better manner than renaming the shops and streets in Marathi.

Q4. Not so long ago, some of your local thugs attacked the IBN Lokmat office? Now why would you (who claim to protect the Maharashtrian culture) do that to a leading 'Marathi' News channel?

Isn't it ironical that over the last four decades, the Shiv Sena has targeted some of Maharashtra's finest literary figures and journalistic institutions?

(can you atleast decide what you actually want)

Q5. Why did your newspaper 'saamna' run headlines seeking an apology from SRK, and asking your followers to agitate against Rahul Gandhi's mumbai visit, instead of waging a war against the water cuts in Mumbai which has left millions suffering, and on the same day when the 'Sena- controlled city's municipal corporation's annual budget revealed an alarming financial crisis???

Q6. And finally this is a question in which i can help with a few solutions....

WHY has the Shiv Sena has been unable to capture power in the state even when the Congress-NCP government in the state has been thoroughly incompetent and when the last decade has seen Maharashtra decline on most social and economic parameters.

Answer : Because you could convince or for that matter "fool" only 43 percent of the voters in Mumbai-Thane which further got 'divided' amongst you and your cousin party. As result you just won 9 out of 60 seats.

My Suggestions:

Now the only way forward is to outdo your cousin in this game of politics. However your ways of grabbing headlines would only help improve television ratings and not get you votes or goodwill. There is space in Maharashtra's politics for a regional force, but it needs to be based on a constructive, inclusive identity.

You can do that by:

1. Instead of setting up the odd wada pav stall in Mumbai (which hardly serves the purpose), better start training projects to make Maharashtrian youth face upto the challenges of a competitive job market

2. Give regional culture a boost by supporting Marathi theatre, literature or cinema (The wonderful Marathi film, "Harishchandrachee Factory", nominated for the Oscars, has been co-produced by Ronnie Screwvala, a Parsi, who like millions of other 'outsiders' has made Mumbai his home.)

3. (Maharashtra has been rated the top in farmer suicides in the country) Seems like there are important things to worry about, rather than wasting the energy and time in lashing out against those who do their bit for the spirit of cricket and extend hands for a better relation with our neighboring country (which is better for us considering the economics) and against those who create a sense of brotherhood in this City of Dreams.

Use your power and might to arrange for finance credit and water supply for the farmers who are on the verge of giving away their lives which would further push the rest of the family in situations which would be 'unimaginable'

Remember,

Always try to keep away from the 'rat race', coz you are a Tiger whom people want to look upto when they are in need of help, and whom they consider to be their 'Protector'.