Image Credit: Toasty Ken

Rahul Raj’s life was snuffed out in a Mumbai BEST bus. He was carrying a gun and was trying to take the bus with its passengers, hostage.

On Monday, Patil, Maharashtra Home Minister said, “The police did the right thing. Those who take the law in their hands, will be dealt with in the same way.”

“That boy could have been overpowered. They could have just targeted his hand to remove the revolver, there was no reason to shoot him,” said Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, Bihar.

Lalu Prasad Yadav demanded the arrest of Raj Thackeray. “It’s a brutal murder; we haven’t seen the man shoot at anyone,” he said, adding “people like Bal Thackeray, Raj Thackeray should be tried for treason.”

“Bihari leaders should ask themselves why people from their state have to migrate to Mumbai to make a living,” Uddhav said.

Rahul Raj had gone to Mumbai looking for a job like many others from his state. He had recently completed a diploma in radiology and wanted to pursue a decent career. He was the eldest of three children.

In the cacophony of ugly sound bytes from various quarters, it is lost on the world that the life of a 23 year old has been snatched away. The media and the public at large do not consider this as anything more than getting rid of a menacing mosquito. 

One is reminded of an old Nasruddin Shah movie, “Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aatha Hai?” This question leads to another similar question – what made a 23 year old decent looking Rahul Raj so angry that he would threaten to take the bus with its passengers hostage with a country made pistol?

Was it because he had to leave his loved ones in his home town and to go to the city of opportunities more out of dire need than desire? What else does a young man do when the state’s politicians and its mafia give him no other option but to leave his home looking for a future?

Or, was it because he was haunted by the images replayed on TV – over and over again – of  Biharis beaten up and chased by the goons and supporters of Raj Thackeray on the streets of Mumbai? Would he have felt threatened, and imagined his dreams crumble just because he happened to be from Bihar?

One does not know who is more right and more wrong- the Maharashtrian or the Bihari politicians. However, I get the nagging feeling that people like Raj Thackeray will thrive and succeed on the pile of lifeless bodies of people like Rahul. The leader may even become the king maker or the king himself one day.

Sadly, the general public has grown so used to seeing hapless people killed and their homes torched because they belong to a particular community or state. They watch with indifference when people’s lives are extinguished in full public view and hardly anyone raises a finger or an eyelid. They do not realize the bells – now tolling for Rahul Raj, could toll for them next.

An eminent historian – (Edmund Burke?) said, “Society prepares the crime and a criminal commits it.”

In the case of Rahul, the society prepared the crime and the police pulled the trigger killing a potential hero.

And you still ask why Albert Pinto and Rahul Raj got angry, very, very angry?

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