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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Deadly Commute

Mumbai has always taken pride in its local trains, which have been celebrated as the city’s lifeline. It has long been a democratic institution that carries millionaires and labourers alike, and a symbol of the resilience that Mumbaikars so often boast about. The brutal murder of a 22-year-old passenger inside a moving local has exposed a darker reality. The city’s most cherished public service is no longer merely overcrowded and uncomfortable but is becoming steadily unsafe. The victim,...

Deadly Commute

Mumbai has always taken pride in its local trains, which have been celebrated as the city’s lifeline. It has long been a democratic institution that carries millionaires and labourers alike, and a symbol of the resilience that Mumbaikars so often boast about. The brutal murder of a 22-year-old passenger inside a moving local has exposed a darker reality. The city’s most cherished public service is no longer merely overcrowded and uncomfortable but is becoming steadily unsafe. The victim, travelling in a first-class compartment of a Churchgate-Nallasopara fast local, became embroiled in an argument over whether the train door should be kept open during heavy rain. The disagreement escalated into fatal violence after the accused pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the abdomen. As blood pooled on the floor of the compartment, passengers merely stood there watched in horror. A video of the aftermath showed the alleged killer walking away with the weapon in hand without anybody stopping him. For years, a rough but effective social order prevailed in the Mumbai local train. While commuters may have jostled for space and exchanged harsh words, there remained an unwritten code of conduct for keeping outright criminality at bay. Mumbai’s trains have long been dangerous in one sense. Every year, hundreds die while crossing tracks, hanging from footboards or falling from overcrowded coaches. But passengers rarely feared being murdered inside the compartment itself. S Even more troubling was the reaction of those present. The footage suggests that dozens of passengers chose self-preservation over intervention. While few citizens would willingly confront an armed attacker, the images nonetheless reveal a growing atomisation of urban life. Millions travel together every day, but increasingly as strangers who feel no responsibility towards one another. Mumbai’s famed collective spirit has now become a slogan repeated only after disasters rather than a reality visible in everyday life. The authorities, too, have questions to answer. How did an individual carrying a knife manage to board and travel through one of the busiest suburban rail networks in the world? Why does visible security remain so sparse despite years of promises about surveillance, modernisation and passenger safety? The Railways have invested heavily in technology, announcements and infrastructure upgrades. Yet commuters continue to encounter inadequate policing and an absence of deterrence. The larger concern is cultural. Across India’s cities, there is evidence of rising public aggression. Minor disagreements increasingly escalate into violence. Road-rage incidents, neighbourhood disputes and social-media-fuelled confrontations frequently end in bloodshed. Patience, compromise and restraint appear to be in retreat. Mumbai likes to imagine itself as different from the rest of India. The local train murder suggests otherwise. A city is judged not by its skyline but by the safety of its ordinary spaces. When passengers can no longer assume that they will return home alive from a routine train journey, something fundamental has gone wrong.

Parli’s Political Powder Keg

Munde

Come November 20, Maharashtra’s Parli constituency in Beed has become a rural microcosm for the heightened caste tensions in the Marathwada region. Long known as a stronghold of the Munde clan, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s Dhananjay Munde, who is the ruling Mahayuti’s candidate, is gearing up for a fiercely contested election where Maratha and OBC sentiments are set to clash in the wake of the Maratha quota agitation.


The ‘Jarange factor’ (after Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil) is poised to expose the undercurrents of caste politics in a region traditionally dominated by the BJP, particularly owing to the influence and legacy of late stalwart BJP leader Gopinath Munde.


For the BJP and the Mahayuti, the narrow defeat of their candidate Pankaja Munde in the Beed Lok Sabha constituency (of which Parli is part) battle earlier this year, was a major blow, with the Maratha sentiment playing a crucial role in her loss to Bajrang Sonawane of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).


Pankaja had secured victories in Parli in both the 2009 and 2014 elections but fell short of a hat-trick in 2019, when her cousin Dhananjay Munde defeated her by over 30,000 votes. Over the past five years, the sibling rivalry has been set aside, with the duo mending their differences.


While Munde was later rehabilitated as an MLC, her cousin Dhananjay is up against the NCP (SP)’s strategic nominee, Rajesaheb Deshmukh. The canny Sharad Pawar, to capitalize on the caste schism, has fielded Deshmukh – a Maratha – against Munde, a Vanjari OBC leader.


Dhananjay, however, downplays the intensity of the Maratha sentiments, suggesting that the agitation under Jarange-Patil has now waned, though political observers remain sceptical. Earlier this month, Jarange-Patil, who had threatened to field his candidates from the Maratha community, had, in a surprise announcement, done a volte face, stating he was taking back his announcement.


The NCP (SP)’s fielding of Deshmukh, picked by Sharad Pawar, underscores not just the narrative of Maratha identity politics but of Pawar senior’s Machiavellian moves to counter Ajit Pawar’s top aides (among whom Dhananjay is counted as such).


In an unabashedly populist announcement, Deshmukh has promised to arrange marriages for bachelors in Parli if elected, highlighting the struggle of rural men to find brides due to lack of employment opportunities. Deshmukh criticized his rival Dhananjay Munde for failing to bring industries to the area, which he argued has worsened the situation for local youth seeking jobs and marriage prospects.


Meanwhile, seasoned NCP leader Prakash Solanke, who announced his ‘retirement’ from active politics just months ago, has re-entered the fray in neighbouring Majalgaon.


In October last year, a violent mob had pelted stones and torched Solanke’s home after the Maratha quota agitation under Jarange-Patil had taken a turn for the worse.


With several Maratha candidates to contest against Solanke in Majalgaon, the upcoming election will hinge around identity politics rather than about governance.


As for Parli, the balance of power will hinge on how effectively Dhananjay Munde can navigate the simmering discontent among Marathas and the OBC community’s concerns.

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