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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.

Raj Thackeray’s Political Dance

Raj Thackeray

With Maharashtra’s Assembly elections looming, a political shuffle is taking shape in Mumbai. At a high-profile meeting held in a five-star Mumbai hotel on Monday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reportedly held a closed-door discussion with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, reportedly over seat-sharing arrangements in key constituencies like Shivdi, Worli and Mahim.


Despite unconditionally backing the Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha election, Raj had recently announced the MNS would contest the Assembly election on its own. However, there appears to be a tacit understanding that the Mahayuti parties, especially the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and the BJP, would be strategically backing the MNS candidates in key Mumbai seats to defeat the rival Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray, Raj’s estranged cousin.


Raj’s son, Amit Thackeray, is expected to make his political debut in Mahim, a constituency contested by MNS leader Nitin Sardesai in the past. One of Mahim’s neighbouring constituencies is Worli, where Uddhav’s son, Aaditya Thackeray, is expected to defend his seat. In September, Raj had held a rally in Worli, where he tried to rouse nativist sentiments by calling on the ‘sons of the soil’ to stand up for their fundamental rights.The rally had coincided with the unveiling of the MNS’s ‘Vision Worli’ a strategic move to ostensibly counter Aaditya Thackeray’s programme.


By supporting Raj indirectly, the Mahayuti hopes (as it always has) to use MNS as a tool to split the Marathi vote and weaken Uddhav’s Shiv Sena (UBT). 


Despite the MNS not having a single MLA or MP across Maharashtra, the BJP has always hoped to make use of Raj’s still extant Marathi-speaking vote-bank not just in Mumbai, but in Thane and Nashik to challenge the Sena (UBT) in wake of Muslim, Christian and Dalit voters gravitating towards Uddhav Thackeray since the latter’s alliance with the Congress and Sharad Pawar.


The MNS’ twin debacles in the 2014 parliamentary and Assembly elections left the party in utter disarray, with the slide continuing through the 2017 civic election as well as the 2019 State and national elections. Following its rout in the 2019 Assembly election, an atrophied MNS had changed its ideological direction from its nativist stance by veering towards Hindutva politics.


The MNS’ about-turns have compounded its woes. In 2014, Raj endorsed Prime Minister Modi, only to campaign fervently against him in the 2019 general elections, aligning himself with the NCP. Ahead of the Lok Sabha, he returned to giving unconditional support to Modi by campaigning for the Mahayuti. His constant political oscillations have caused confusion within his ranks.


That said, for Shinde and the BJP, having a Thackeray on their side, even tacitly, offers a symbolic boost in their battle with Uddhav for the supremacy of Mumbai.

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