Bal Thackeray's spirit refuses to die. A spectre of fear haunts Mumbai!

The pile of papers to grade gets higher and higher; if only I resorted to the easy, no stress, bubbling-in scantron tests, right?

Sorry, I had to rush to the bathroom to puke and get that thought out of my system :)

Anyway, all those papers to grade, and even more pressing is the need for catharsis by blogging about the atrociousness of Bal Thuggeray's goons.

As when he was alive, Thuggerary brought the city to a standtill even when dead.  It was a bandh that closed everything down.

Most Mumbaikars know that how much ever they are pissed off at Thuggeray, well, they ought to keep those thoughts to themselves.

Which is not what two young women knew, perhaps.

"21-year old Shaheen Dhada" posted on Facebook:

With all respect, every day, thousands of people die, but still the world moves on.

On Facebook. How dare she disrespect Thuggeray!  20-year old Renu Srinivasan made another mistake--she "liked" it.

Dhada had added:

Just due to one politician died a natural death, everyone just goes bonkers. They should know, we are resilient by force, not by choice. When was the last time, did anyone showed some respect or even a two-minute silence for Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Azad, Sukhdev or any of the people because of whom we are free-living Indians? Respect is earned, given, and definitely not forced. Today, Mumbai shuts down due to fear, not due to respect. 

The Gestapo knocked on their doors and hauled them off to jail.  Yes, for posting and "liking" on Facebook.

What were they charged for?

“promoting enmity between classes” and “sending offensive messages through [a] communication service”

WTF!

A former judge of India's Supreme Court, among others, rallied support for these two young women.  One of the comments to his open letter is bloody eerie:

WTF!

India Today reports that the families were also threatened by Thuggerary's Sainiks, which is also echoed in this report:

"The Sainiks came with a lawyer, who was armed with printouts of the Facebook message and the address of the girls. I think everyone will agree that the situation was sensitive in the light of Balasaheb Thackeray's demise," said Ramdas Shinde, subdivisional police officer in Palghar.
A mob also vandalized a medical clinic run by her uncle.

WTF!

I can only hope that the arrest of the two young women will be the proverbial straw to break the back of the unscrupulous politicians who have screwed up India every which they can.

Of course, it is easy for me to blog about it from the safety of my home here in the US.  Well, as long as I am not on the President's kill list!

It is a mad, mad, mad, mad world :(