Shiv Sena was started by goons and Thief's - one day they will destroy Bombay and it industry, I know 7 companies from Europe and USA who have withdrawn from India because of Shiv Sena.This was a small victory in India's cultural skirmishes, though. Much is going the conservatives' way. The minister for information and broadcasting, Sushma Swaraj, has promised to "eradicate obscene and violent scenes from television." In May an Indian court issued a new summons demanding that U.S.-based Rupert Murdoch appear in person to answer charges that his STAR TV network aired "obscene" films. He's not likely to obey. Those in India are more compliant. In July, Vajpayee persuaded the Maharashtra authorities to ban a play that justifies the killing of Mahatma Gandhi; this, Vajpayee apparently believed, was the only way to quiet the protests by secular Hindus. Bombay's liberal elite criticized this act of censorship too.At all other times the minister for culture, Pramod Navalkar, is the reigning moral authority in Maharashtra. In April he banned kissing in public. He has demanded the right to approve of song lyrics and scripts for the theater before they can be performed. Several plays were forced to close down after Navalkar complained about their sexual content. Movies, already under the watch of a censor board, are exempt from any further scrutiny. Sanjay Nirupam, a Shiv Sena member of Parliament and editor of the party newspaper, Saamna (Confrontation), leads the campaign against provocative advertisements. In his office he points to two ads for underclothes published in the Bombay papers. They show models clad in just their underwear cavorting on a bed. In one, the man is crouched behind the woman, playfully removing her panties with his teeth. "We got the police to file a case under obscenity laws against these models," says Nirupam. The two are reportedly in hiding.The Sena is not always predictable, though. Michael Jackson was allowed to hold a concert last year; Thackeray even met the American singer. Jackson, in turn, donated the proceeds of his performance to a Sena charity. But the Australian rock band Savage Garden didn't have it so easy. Before receiving permission to hold an April concert, the group had to submit the lyrics of its songs. Then they had to agree that no one in the band would perform barechested or kiss or hug anyone in public. The police were on hand to make sure they complied. Two popular VJs, Sophiya Haque and Marc Robinson, who introduced the show didn't. Robinson gave Haque a huge kiss on-stage during the concert. "This was an act of open defiance," says Nirupam. "They will also have to go underground."This is not the free-thinking, freewheeling Bombay that people once knew and loved. Benegal says: "For many in Bombay, a new element has entered their genteel world." Some prefer to just ignore it. "Why should I react to a few of them who are intolerant. To react is to fall into their trap," says Kekoo Gandhy. He and his wife run a prominent downtown art gallery. She is not as sanguine as he: "Times have changed. The climate in India at the moment is different. You have to be wise according to the age you live in." But many believe it would be wise to defend India's greatest city against this encroaching cultural puritanism before it's too late.