Marxism and Shiv Sena !

After scratching my head for one month, finally I had to let out my frustration on the Shiv Sena circus going on in India (home). So instead of blabbering out some useless abuses on them, I decided to think why such a significant amount of people would follow the command and ideology of such unreasonable and racist family. Who have based their entire political ideology on hate crimes!
I would just like to admit that I am no expert in politics. I was born in Mumbai, stayed most of my life in Gujarat but attended my college in Pune. So I have spent a good amount of time in Mumbai and as well in Maharashtra, which at least gives me the right to comment on the situation (I am sure Shiv Sena would have a problem with an Indian Citizen writing about Maharashtra and Shiv Sena from America).
I think there is a strong relation between Hitler, Stalin/Lenin and Thackeray’s. They all believe in Marxism!
I am sure Bal Thackeray has his personal collection of Karl Marx literature. I would like to explain Marxism briefly for those of you who are not aware about this political philosophy.

Marxism is a particular political philosophy, economic and sociological worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and an atheist view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The three primary aspects of Marxism are:
1. The dialectical and materialist concept of history — Humankind's history is fundamentally that of the struggle between social classes. The productive capacity of society is the foundation of society, and as this capacity increases over time the social relations of production, class relations, evolve through this struggle of the classes and pass through definite stages (primitive communism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism). The legal, political, ideological and other aspects (ex. art) of society are derived from these production relations as is the consciousness of the individuals of which the society is composed.
2. The critique of capitalism — In capitalist society, an economic minority (the bourgeoisie) dominate and exploit the working class (proletariat) majority. Marx uncovered the inter- workings of capitalist exploitation, the specific way in which unpaid labor (surplus value) is extracted from the working class (the labor theory of value), extending and critiquing the work of earlier political economists on value. Although the production process is socialized, ownership remains in the hand of the bourgeoisie. This forms the fundamental contradiction of capitalist society. Without the elimination of the fetter of the private ownership of the means of production, human society is unable to achieve further development.
3. Advocacy of proletarian revolution — In order to overcome the fetters of private property the working class must seize political power internationally through a social revolution and expropriate the capitalist classes around the world and place the productive capacities of society into collective ownership. Upon this, material foundation classes would be abolished and the material basis for all forms of inequality between humankind would dissolve.


Based on these three principles, Stalin killed millions of people justifying it as restructuring of the society based on Marxism principle. Killing the most talented and wealthy people on the grounds of creating a society where all are equal. Stalin and Lenin use to publicly admit they were firm believers and followers of Marxism, what baffles me the most is the fact that they were never convicted of any crime against humanity (to learn more about this subject I would recommend to watch the documentary “The Soviet Story”.
Hitler twisted the Marxism principle and used it to kill Jews. Many would believe that he was greatly inspired by Karl Marx. Hitler believed that Jews were inferior humans and only by killing them he could lay the foundation for a great society.
It is interesting to see how the two different allies of WW-II took the same principle and used it completely in two different manners to justify the killing of millions of people. Russia believed in killing the best performing class and Germany in the lowest class (based on their assumption) the Jews.
I just feel Shiv Sena is not any different they feel people from other states are lower human beings compared to Maharashtrians; they want to create communal disharmony to gain cheap publicity. Just by collecting chanda (donation) from chawls and societies one cannot claim to be the protector and guardian of the “Marathi Pride”. Maharashtra which directly translates into “Great Nation” is the state housing India’s financial capital Mumbai, it is one of the strongest states in India when it comes to Agriculture, base of Bollywood, home to Lata Mageshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Ambanis and billions of others (including the Dabbawalas; just love their management and operational skills). There are millions of things which represent Mumbai the list would be longer Maharashtra. But the only thing I am certain about is the fact that it has no place for Shiv Sena or the Thackeray’s.
I also would like to know what Shiv Sena has done so far to help out the people in need. Snatching jobs from north Indian cannot be categorized as Job creation! I was greatly inspired and delighted by Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai’s open letter to Udhav Thackeray (http://stg.ibnlive.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/61523/an-open-letter-to-uddhav-thackeray.html).
I don’t know how many people would read this, but it really does not matter how many do!
The more important thing is what we are going to do about this!
If you agree with me that something has to be done, please pass on this message to all your friends.
Thank you,
Kushal Gohil
kushal.gohil@gmail.com