Shiv Sena, Bal Thackeray, Rahul Gandhi, Shah Rukh Khan

It looks like the Shiv Sena tiger is caged, for now. It is down 0-2, and it must hurt to be licked by arguably the two best-looking men in the country − Rahul Gandhi and Shah Rukh Khan. Pretty soon, it could be 0-3 if − as is likely − it backs down on its threat to stop Australians from playing in the Indian Premier League.

Whatever is going on at Matoshree?

It’s been a long time since it looked more inept on the political stage. As Bal Thackeray ages, there is a clear vacuum that his son Uddhav is struggling to fill. He took to the airwaves to defend his stand on both the Mumbai-for-Marathis slogan that provoked Gandhi, as well as the Pakistani cricketers’ shutout from the IPL. Uddhav clearly is biting off more than he can chew.

What the Sena got back was deserved, to say the least.

Gandhi cocked a snook at the feared Sena cadres, flying into Mumbai, even riding a crowded commuter train and generally, rubbing the Sena noses in the dust. Of course, it wasn’t as easy as it looked. It looked that way because of the security routinely thrown around him. But political leaders must wonder why some other North Indian leader never dared to do what the young Gandhi scion did to back the Biharis and bhaiyas of Mumbai, not to mention to push the Sena on the defensive.

Shah Rukh deserves accolades for the way he responded to Sena threats to block his forthcoming film, My Name Is Khan. His Bollywood colleagues have buckled under far less pressure. Remember Karan Johar meeting Raj Thackeray to apologise for the use of Bombay, as opposed to its new name, in the movie, Wake Up Sid. Many others don’t even bother to lock horns with the Sena.

Shah Rukh first stood firm, saying he had said nothing wrong when he said Pakistani cricketers, the world T20 champions, were unfairly left out of the auction for the world’s richest cricket tournament. He refused even to issue an insincere apology, as is routinely done by many to defuse a crisis. He simply wore his heart on his sleeve to ride out the storm. He asked: What should I retract? What should I apologise for? Should I apologize to be an Indian?

Finally, the Sena chief himself relented, calling off a threat to block My Name Is Khan, due for release Feb. 12.

The Sena’s stand on Australian cricketers is just as silly as its other recent stands. This ostensibly is in retaliation for the racial attacks on Indian students in Australia. As I have said in a previous post, the Australian cricketers are a key attraction in the IPL and what’s more, many of the Australian cricketers are extremely likeable guys with strong, deep links with Indian society. To ‘punish’ them is absurd. Also, if Sena doesn’t relent, it will only hurt the Mumbai Cricket Association, which may be unable to host any matches.

It might be tempting for right-minded Mumbaikars to rejoice, but caution might be advised. After all, there is this small matter of what the other Thackeray – Raj – might just come up with.