The transformation of Shiv Sena

Not only is the Sena in alliance with its once bitter enemy, the Congress, it is now making migrants from the rest of India its best friends

Those of a certain age must have blinked to hear Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s address on April 14 as migrants thronged the Bandra railway station expecting to get on to trains to make their way home and had to be lathicharged.

First, he spoke in Hindi. Obviously, speaking in Marathi to a labour force that is primarily from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with a small (and increasingly dwindling) section from south India, would have been somewhat pointless. But for a Shiv Sainik, this was a big, big concession.

And then, what he said! It’s fit to take your breath away! “You’re