Chavan’s taxi dents Congress’ image

Congress is stuck in an unenviable position over the Mumbai taxi permits issue. Though Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan

backtracked on making the knowledge of Marathi compulsory for securing a permit, the state government’s handling of the issue is set to boomerang on the party. It faces the prospect of a backlash in the Hindi heartland for toeing the anti-migrant line, while in Maharashtra Raj Thackeray’s MNS has found a new opportunity to vent its hardline ‘sons of the soil’ line.

Political parties across Bihar on Thursday came out to criticise the 15-year domicile rule in Maharashtra necessary to secure a taxi permit. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and rescind the Maharashtra state cabinet’s decision on the matter.

Congress leaders and party spokespersons had put up a defence for the Maharashtra government decision on Wednesday. By late Wednesday night, Mr Chavan had gone back on his insistence that knowledge of Marathi was compulsory by clarifying that that knowledge of Hindi or Gujarati would also be acceptable. But by then the decision had made Congress at the Centre appear to side with Mr Raj Thackeray’s brand of politics.

Mr Chavan’s clarification appeared like an after thought. He had justified his insistence on Marathi after Wednesday’s cabinet meeting as something that the Motor Vehicles Act stipulated.

Shiv Sena and MNS for their part were critical of the flip-flop. Shiv Sena charging Mr Chavan with “insulting Maharashtra”, while the MNS issued a direct threat. “Only Marathi persons must be given taxi permits. We will not allow any relaxation in this policy failing which we will not allow a single taxi to operate in Mumbai,” MNS chief Raj Thackeray said.

The MNS president also criticised the Mr Chavan for his “spineless conduct”. “What kind of chief minister is Mr Chavan? Yesterday he said knowledge of Marathi is compulsory and today he says its optional. This is an insult to Maharashtra and Marathi by a CM who has no stand of his own and only does what his party high-command wants him to do,” Mr Thackeray said.

Mr Chavan’s “clarification” on the language issue alone may not be enough to put a lid on the matter. As a state Congress spokesperson pointed out the Congress high command was piqued over the manner in which the state cabinet took the decision and the chief minister went public about it. “If the Motor Vehicle Act has already laid it down, where is the need to take a decision now and go to the town with it,” the spokesperson asked.

Meanwhile, the party will have to contend the reactions the controversy has generated in the Hindi-speaking states, especially Bihar. Mr Nitish Kumar in a letter to the PM said: “The decision which effectively bars people from going to Maharastra from other states is not only against the federal structure but also against the Constitution. It creates barrier to free migration within the country, gives rise to parochial tendencies and is extremely dangerous to the integrity of our country”.

Mr Lalu Prasad also objected to Maharastra cabinet decision. “The Congress stands exposed as the government led by it in Maharashtra is toeing the lines of divisive forces which Raj Thackeray and Bal Thackeray represent”. LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and state’s deputy chief minister BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi also asked for the decision to be withdrawn.