Hitendra Thakur

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Hitendra Thakur is an Indian politician from Mumbai, Maharashtra.

He and his brother Jayendra are accused of being leaders of the underworld in the Vasai-Virar suburb of Mumbai. Police cases against them (mostly pending in court or under investigation) include extortion, criminal intimidation, attempt to murder, murder, and land grab^[1].

Hitendra Thakur was most recently elected MLA in the Maharashtra state assembly elections, 2004, polling 1,61,000 votes versus 94,000 for nearest rival Vivek Pandit of the Shiv Sena^[2].

[edit] Life

An orphan at the age of three, Hitendra Thakur grew up based on his family's meager income from a small tea stall.

In 1992, when the clean-imaged Sudhakarrao Naik took over as Chief Minister from Sharad Pawar, he launched a drive against criminal-politicians. Media pressure increased tremendously after the September 1992 shootout where Dawood Ibrahim's lads, under the able leadership of the dreaded Shyam Kishore Garikapatti alias "black scorpion" of Ghatkopar, killed Shailesh Haldankar of the Arun Gawli gang as well as several on-duty policemen at Mumbai's JJ Hospital^[3]. Thereafter, Bhai Thakur, along with other mafia don-politicians like Pappu Kalani, were jailed under the repressive Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, which permitted imprisonment for "terrorists" even without trial.

However, Hitendra Thakur successfully ran for the Vasai legislative seat in 1990 under the Indian National Congress party, from where he has been re-elected several times.

[edit] Political style

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From a small tea-stall, his business interests have grown to include hotel resorts, shopping malls, multiplexes, hospitals, educational institutions and so on. A police official says about him^[1]:

Thakur has every official in his pocket. Initially, he even fudged land records so that he could demand a share in every land transaction. "Every builder has to buy materials only from the people he favours, use only his transport companies, employ his boys as security guards. That is how he creates employment for his people and earns their loyalty."

The original inhabitants of the Vasai area are the tribals or Adivasis, whose interests are increasingly in conflict with the burgeoning middle class. Adivasi activist Navleen Kumar, who dared to fight against the grabbing of land belonging to Adivasis, was killed in 2002, allegedly by the Hitendra Thakur gang, and other activists working with her are also threatened regularly^[1].

While a number of people in the constituency praise Thakur for solving their immediate problems, for example, by arranging water through tankers. Others however, are less supportive: an activist is quoted in the media saying^[1]:

What has he done for Vasai? Look at the state of the roads, we have to rely on tanker water, there is no hospital here. There are no buses to reach the 62 villages here. All health and education facilities are in private hands.