Shocked? Wait, I'm not justifying violence, just trying to understand root causes. :-) Politicians across the party divide, in Maharashtra, seem to be sympathetic to Raj Thackeray's antics. The silent Marathi majority seems to be with him, if silently so. And in keeping in with the good traditions of secular politics they are speaking out in a way that's heard by the high priests of secularism.
Not that it matters that the media are still turning a deaf ear to all that, but the persistent news coverage for Raj proves that he can't be ignored, which also proves than in secular India violence works, or perhaps is the only way that works. That is unless you've boatloads of money to bribe the fat cats, like the abominable crony capitalist, Amar Singh.
Maharashtra has been an industrialized state for a while, naturally attracting laborers and others seeking livelihood. Like every place it has it limits. Somewhere this must have been breached, for the locals to find their identity threatened. For them to feel economically squeezed out. Else there's no explanation to the silent approbation from Maharashtrians unless you believe in conspiracy of silence.
The root cause of this is consistent (mis)handling of the important Railway ministry by ministers from Bihar. Again, in keeping with good ol' tradition of cronyism, the Bihari Rail ministers packed every petty post with people from Bihar. It beats logic as to why you need to import someone from 1000 km away for class IV positions as a line guard or signals man or a ticket checker, jobs which a high-school dropout can perform with relative ease. With the lowered educational standards there's no dearth of high-school passouts, even graduates, either. Yet, these petty jobs go to someone who is somehow related to the Yadav clan or in good books(thru bribing) of some Laloo, Paswan crony.
Nepotism is usually a recipe for social disaster. Nepotism on a policy-level is moreso. I doubt what we've seen here is nothing but the tip of iceberg, and the worst is yet to come. However, it still doesn't beat the brazen attempts to recourse India's foreign policy by lingual bigots of the Dravidian type. Raj Thackeray might just be doing his bit to unravel the secular socialist charade of harmony. It's getting ugly out there. That's why it may not be exactly so unwelcome, rather desirable.
P.S.- I feel really sorry for the 'secular' media, with the Islamic terrorists pooping their party yet again. Just when the fun was beginning with "Hindu terrorists" becoming the flavor of the day, this happens.
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