A MURDER AND A MYSTERY

CHAPTER 8: THE PARTY

Though Shipra was a nobody as far as the party was concerned, certain quarters in the party organization were deeply disturbed over his disappearance. One person in the party who was more worried than the rest was More.

Much of Bombay's politics owed its existence to the cotton and textile business. The hundreds of thousands of mill workers made fertile ground for politicians of every hue. More was then young and worked for one of the better textile mills in the city. Those were heady days when Dr Datta Samant had burst on to the scene; George Fernandes was another firebrand mill union leader, who rose later on to become a senior minister in the Central Government. The politics of the mills was played around essentially two different ideologies, that of the socialist Congress and the Communists.

More was inspired by both the doctor and the communists. He longed to be at the forefront of union activities and slowly made his way to becoming a prominent player. He watched both Samant and Fernandes closely and though it was difficult for him to choose between the two, he chose the former, more for his origins and roots in the state. Samant hailed from the Konkan region of Maharashtra; most of the workers came from this region and hence owed their loyalty to the doctor. After all, he had given up the practice of medicine to tirelessly work for the cause of workers.

The basic problem of mill workers was food, clothing and shelter; all of which constantly required money. Mill workers were paid pittance by the owners, industrialists who were more focused on making money for themselves and their political patrons. Mill workers lived in squalor with the chawls being dungeons without ventilation or sunlight.

More played an active part from the seventies to the early eighties. He lost his job, his provident fund and his future. More unfortunate was the permanent loss of the union which finally disintegrated under severe pressure from every possible side.

The politics played out was quite without scruples. The mill owners left no stone unturned to ensure the strike failed. They conspired to kill the leaders; the doctor himself was gunned down later in 1997. The mill owners also defaulted on payment of salary dues and terminal benefits of the workers. Yet, they managed to later sell off vast mill land to developers and made huge profits.

More had watched all this with a heavy heart. After the demise of the textile business, Maharashtra witnessed the rise of another kind of politics that would ultimately succeed in capturing the imagination of Marathi's. This time, the focus was on giving Marathi's their pride and place in the state. More embraced the cause and began involving himself.

Politics is all about how you manage to become powerful. Those few who do manage to get power end up becoming corrupted by it. More could never understand the power of money and how people became enslaved by it. He had never managed to get power or money, though he often dreamt of it.

More was a small and insignificant player in the party now; but he does not mind it, for he does party work for himself. He no longer believes in causes or the need to fight for them. People in the Parel neighborhood where he worked, came to him with problems and he was happy to resolve them to the best of his ability. His assistant, Savant, a youngster with great political ambitions had long overtaken More within the party; though More was still respected for his seniority. Savant worried More no end. The boy was sincere when it came to working for the party; but he was too ambitious. He would grab every opportunity to get close to the power center and people who walked the corridors of power.

It was Savant who had recruited Shipra for the escort assignments. More had opposed the very idea of having escorts, but Savant was adamant. Through Shipra, Savant wanted to work his way into the hearts of the party leaders. More knew what these assignments meant and had even cautioned Shipra, but she would not listen to him as she wanted money. It also seemed that Shipra worked for men with a vengeance; her husband had ill-treated and thrown her out and she perhaps hated men in her heart. She would often come back from her assignments and tell More about the people whom she escorted. The stories she told about them showed them in a poor moral light, and More wondered how such things were possible in the party that had dedicated itself to noble causes.

Now Shipra was missing; More spoke to Savant about it but he was not keen to discuss. More was fearful that investigations by the police could lead them here, but Savant was confident that no such thing would happen. Did Savant know what happened to Shipra? Savant would not answer this question directly, telling his senior to seal his lips and do his work. More was certain that Savant knew all about Shipra's mysterious disappearance.

In the good old textile war days, More had witnessed many such mysterious disappearances. Workers who were recognized as troublemakers by the management would simply disappear one day, never to be found. In some cases, their bodies would be found in the Arabian Sea and their death would be declared as suicide due to financial problems. Investigations were routinely held and files would then vanish. The union leaders would rave and rant for some time and then suddenly forget the episodes.

Like many others like him, More had always been a silent spectator, always preferring to remain in the shadows and remaining accountable only for himself and his family. This ensured peace of mind. He decided not to probe any further into Shipra's disappearance and distance himself from Savant and the police. He also made a mental note to talk to Gotya and advise him to stay clear of trouble.