Mumbai The clash of the posters that held parts of Mumbai to ransom on Tuesday evening seems to be case of much ado over nothing.
But it’s the Mumbaikar who is at the receiving end as cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray battle over a shrinking constituency.
What's in a banner? Well, if it’s the banner of the Shiv Sena supremo, Bal Thackeray – it could mean a riot, a lathi charge, some crude bombs and a massive traffic jam.
That's what Mumbai saw on Tuesday when supporters of Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Raj Thackeray clashed over a few torn posters. Supporters of Raj's Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena (MNS) tore some posters of Bal Thackeray. So naturally Shiv Sena cadres tried to tear them apart.
This is one of the spots which became a bone of contention triggering violent clashes between the Sena and MNS supporters. One day after the incident, nobody is really bothered about it.
The offending posters have been cleared overnight and it seems no one really started the fight.
Raj said: “Why should my guys do it that too in a college. It is a part of a bigger agenda and was pre-planned."
"We apologise to the residents of the area. There should be an enquiry, " Uddhav said.
The police have arrested some minor functionaries of both parties but not much is expected to come of the exercise.
But in a city where the height of every banner matters and where for every face of Bal and Uddhav, there is an equally big one of Raj, clearly there can be no end to the battle to become Mumbai's true political poster boy.
In Mumbai with Hindol Sengupta and Arun Gopalakrishnan
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