Why Mumbai needs to worry.

Can you imagine ANY walk of life where a person/team is rewarded for non-performance? Well, it happens in Maharashtra politics, for sure. The Congress/NCP has been voted back in for making a total mess of the state.

And this has happened not because the voters are idiots, but because the state politics has been reduced to a one-horse race. With the sort of options available, especially key rivals like the BJP and the Sena, there simply is no choice for the voter. The BJP has been busy drafting its own obit all over the nation. And with Bal Thackeray a spent force today, and his son boasting of as much character and charisma as a safety pin, the victory for Cong was a given. This is like being invited to a buffet spread, and being made to choose between a stale vada, cow dung and, er, safety pins. Which is why it amazes me that in TV studio debates, they continue to wonder why the city doesn’t vote.

So even as the Congress bosses celebrate, they must understand that they are back in by default. And not by design.

But here’s why we Mumbaikars need to be worried:

Vastly emboldened, the ruling Congress will now take the state and the city for granted. Even more so than they ever did. They are now assured that they can sleep, sloth, plunder the city and grab lands openly, and life will simply move on. Why make an effort to work when it doesn’t electorally count at all?

They will continue to give a free reign to Raj’s goondas. Because he has become their most important ally. He is doing their dirty work by making sure the opposition remains exactly that… in the opposition. So the next time Raj decides to terrorise the city, like before, the state leaders will smile and look the other way. He is their most productive employee after all.

Meanwhile Raj, having hit the bull’s-eye with a divisive agenda, will now go all out with his plans. Because this brand strategy is rocking for him. So the migrants can look forward to many kicks and slaps in the coming future. And we can look forward to much violence on the streets. And this will be purely symbolic, and not much else. The illegal encroachments will go on, as they serve as Congress’ key vote banks. No hon, they aren’t going to be removed in a hurry. So the ultra parochial Marathi manoos can perhaps take delight in some bhaiyya getting his pants taken off now and then, but life for him/her will remain unchanged.

Gets worse. The Mr Safety Pin Uddhav will now finally understand that, a, he has no future in politics. And b, his ONLY chance is to go back to his dad’s tried and tested militant ways. Which means in the coming years, the two cousins will compete hard on who can unleash greater carnage on the streets of Mumbai.

Bottomline: Expect corruption, inefficiency, violence and hatred to scale new levels in the state. Jai Maharashtra!