Answer by Bal Thackeray: “I am not against each and every Moslem. But those Moslems who reside in this country but do not go by the laws of the land and on the other hand, obey unquestioningly the rules set up from time to time, by Moslem mullahs and maulvis, I consider such people traitors. Such people have no right to live in our country. The bigotry of these people clash with India’s Constitution. Such Moslems base their conduct on the Sharia’ and their particular religion in preference to the Constitution. We will NOT let these people live in our country. They can go over to Pakistan or Bangladesh (both Islamic countries). Once they arrive there, they will rapidly discover what kind of freedom prevails in those Islamic lands in comparison with the freedom they have here, in our country.
“Let me repeat that if any Moslem wants to live in our country, he has to behave exactly like any other citizen and in all respects and not expect any special privileges. The alternative is to leave our land.”
Q: “Shiv Sena was initially formed to uphold the interests of the Marathi speaking population. Why then is it being transformed into an All-India organization? Is your party equally popular among non-Marathi speaking people?”
A: “Boundaries of India’s various provinces were finalized after independence. It was done on the basis of the languages spoken in different provinces. But there were errors committed. Each province has its own special culture. It is necessary to take measures so that those special cultures are not damaged. Even after independence, we had to have recourse to a widespread popular movement to keep the city of Mumbai (Bombay) in the province of Maharashtra. Hundreds sacrificed their lives in that movement. Official records indicate that some 105 people died in that movement. Even after the establishment of Sanyukta Maharashtra I discovered that our people could not live here with self-respect. People were unemployed in their own province. People from other provinces, mostly from South India, occupied most of the positions of employment. Officers in higher positions continued employing people from other provinces and it became a one-way traffic as Marathis did not have similar opportunities in other provinces. Marathi workers were in a pitiful condition as they had nowhere to go for succour. At the time, I was only a cartoonist. I was working at the Free Press Journal and the Navshakti. I did not see eye to eye with the owners of the Free Press Journal and left them. I joined forces with a few other journalists and we started publication of the News Day. Financial situation was not very bright and there were talks of selling News Day to businessmen with money. I was against such handing over of the paper to businessmen and work under and to their orders. What good was it then to have left the Free Press Journal? My cartoons published in the Free Press Journal started appearing in the New York Times. Later I had a contract with Japan’s renowned Daily Asahi Shimbun. Three of my cartoons appeared in that paper’s serial Churchill’s Biography in Cartoons. Later in 1960 we started publication of the Marmik. Its inauguration was done by the then chief minister Yeshvantrao Chauhan. It was then that people started to come to us. Most people of the province were unemployed and had no money. I had no quarrel with South Indians. But then it is clearly our right to have employment in our own province. Did anyone leave Mumbai after the successful termination of our Sanykta Maharashtra movement?
“Even after the formation of the Shiv Sena, no one left Mumbai. A lot of badmouthing went on against us. To reply to this badmouthing we had but one small Weekly.
“It was then that we started the Daily Samna and only recently we have started publication of the Hindi edition of the Samna. Shiv Sena never was against people of other provinces. It isn’t so even today inspite of misleading and baseless propaganda carried out against Shiv Sena. Normally it is not easy for a Hindi-speaking person to fully understand Marathi. And therefore, in order to spread our message more widely, we have started publication of the Hindi Samna.”
Q: “How will non-Marathi-speaking people be treated in Mumbai once Shiv Sena takes over?”
A: “Exactly the same way Marathi-speaking people are treated in other provinces. People will go on mixing together as now. It is necessary that there is ‘give and take’.”
Q: “Will local Employment Committees provide jobs to non-Marathi-speaking people?”
A: “But that work is currently going on. I don’t want anyone to be driven out; no one has been driven out by us either. I say the same thing to the Moslems too. I am not against nationalist Moslems. But I am totally against the illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh and Pakistan. They number in millions now. There are terrorists among them. I would like to drive out even those Moslems who give shelter to these illegal Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, in our country. Is our door to be kept open always? What kind of protectors do we have at our frontiers that permit these people to come in but do not make any arrangements to get them out? All these infiltrators will eventually have to get out of India.”
Q: “How are you going to drive them out?”
A: “Let us form our own government and you will see how we get them out. We stopped Pakistan’s cricket game in Mumbai. And we would not allow them to play cricket here in the future either. And never, ever.”
Q: “Pakistani actors and actresses want to work in India. Aneeta Ayub wants to settle down in India. What is your opinion on this?”
A: “We will not allow Pakistani actors and actresses to work here. Those Indian film directors who will hire them, their films will be prevented from being shown here. We will see to that. These people come here to collect money and as soon as they go back to Pakistan, they start calling us names. We will not permit any Pakistani to settle down in India. Pakistan and Bangladesh are our enemy countries. Bangladesh is a shameless country. We got them their freedom. Indira Gandhi freed these people. And now these shameless people speak against us for no reason!”
Q: “But then many of our own actors and actresses work in Dubai and other Gulf countries!”
A: “We have no enmity with the Gulf countries. But Pakistan and Bangladesh are our enemies.”
Q: “What will you do if New Delhi imposes central rule on Mumbai?”
A: “This can never happen. We will not allow Mumbai to be ruled from New Delhi. Never. Do you think we shed so much of our blood just to be ruled from New Delhi? If there is any Mai ka Lal (Mother’s son) who can impose central rule on Mumbai, I would like to see that. You will see what we will do then!”
Q: “Some businessmen are reported to have requested the government in New Delhi to rule Mumbai from the center.”
A: “Who are these businessmen that have made such a demand? These people have come here only recently. Where were these businessmen when we were fighting for India’s independence? Other than the Birlas, there were no one, but no one! Do not forget that Mumbai is the capital city of Maharashtra. No one can meddle with Mumbai and get away with it. Why do they talk like this? What is the real reason for such talk? If they have the courage let them get back Lahore, where Guru Nanak was born. I am not telling this to the Sikhs. Make no mistake; I am telling this to those who want Mumbai to be a centrally ruled province.”
Q: “How come Shiv Sena has no hold on the ‘sugar lobby’ in the Northwest of Maharashtra?”
A: “These people are Congress supporters. They belong to that party. The Congress government issues licences only to their own kind. No doubt they have a monopoly for now. People call them ‘sugar kings’.”
Q: “Congressmen believe that as long as the ‘sugar lobby’ is there, Shiv Sena will not be able to come to power in Maharashtra.”
A: “That is not quite true. The so called ‘sugar lobby’ flourishes in the Northwest of Maharashtra. But then there is no ‘sugar lobby’ in Marathwada, Vidarbh and Konkan. In the last elections, when Sharad Pawar was there, Congress won 141 seats and the opposition won 147 seats. ‘Sugar lobby’ was on their side. Congress always rules with the the minorities, be it in Delhi or Mumbai.”
Q: “Why has Shiv Sena not increased in other provinces like it did in Mumbai?”
A: “The main reason for that is lack of resources and wealth. Shiv Sena does not have the kind of money that Congress has. There are people who nevertheless assert that Shiv Sena has lots of money. But that is not true. If Shiv Sena had the money, it would have gone forward, much ahead of the Congress, a long time ago. We have so far lagged behind our publicity and public relations work in other provinces. Congress has money power; but we have man power. This is changing rapidly though. Today, people are calling me from all over the country.”
