WHEN POLITICS GOES SOUTH

A Shinde Sena MLA harks back to the old nativist credo, but only as a cover for a mess of his own making

- By Dhaval S. Kulkarni

Anti-South Indian politics was the very first drum roll with which the Shiv Sena arrived on the stage of modern Indian politics. It clearly still has some juice left, judging by the curious way it made a fresh entry into the headlines—as an afterthought to a thoughtless act tailor-made for endless TV. The protagonist was Sanjay Gaikwad, an Eknath Shinde Sena MLA whose nature, by all accounts, resembles a typical Mumbai weather report: torrential, always with chances of strong thunder. This particular downpour started after a video surfaced of Gaikwad, clad in a vest and a towel around his waist, punching a hapless staffer at the MLA hostel at Nariman Point.

FRESH HEADACHE FOR SHINDE