Need I say more?
Out of touch …
October 31, 2008 at 7:11 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Maharashtra, MNS, Mumbai, Raj Thackeray
It is not unusual to come across posts from non-Maharashtrians, in the present heated debate, about how things should be different, about what the constitution says about rights of individuals, about how we are Indians first and lot of other high and mighty ideas. People somehow tend to believe that in the context of a nation-state, ideologies are more important people, that people exist for the sake of the nation and not vice versa. One such person is this blogger.
Here is my response to his blog for the benefit of many who seem to have similar outlooks as this guy. His original blog was in response to an interview that Shobha De gave to CNN–IBN.
“I would like to remind you, that to be great, to lead, …”
When did Shobha De say anything about becoming great? She said when you are in Maharashtra, you should learn Marathi (just like when you were in Karnataka, you should have learnt Kannada, then you wouldn’t run into a situation where you call the cop an imbecile for not writing in English/Hindi and he won’t call you an imbecile for not knowing Kannada).
“How would you feel if Mumbai starts behaving like this?”
What do you think ordinary Maharashtrians feel when you come to Mumbai/Maharashtra with a sense of righteous entitlement expecting the residents to bend over backward to accomodate you?
“Would you be able to boast about a future Ambani or a future Ratan Tata? “
Do you think ordinary Maharashtrians give two hoots about the Ambani’s and Tata’s? They are busy making their ends meet so they can survive in a city that is rapidly pricing them out of their livelihoods.
“What Raj has raised in here, is an inherent feeling that is present in all Indians, don’t you think it’s wrong and unconstitutional?”
Wrong and unconstitutional? What comes first in a nation, people or constitution? When the constitution is not working, it is in dire need of amendments.
“don’t you think that you should rise above parochial confinement and tell where Raj is wrong?”
We should rise over parochial confinement? What have you done to rise over parochial confinement in your home state besides escaping it to come to Maharashtra?
“When families come from other states and never want to live, it’s not a problem Ms. De, it’s a privilege.”
It maybe a privilege for them, but it’s a problem for the locals. Have you traveled in the local trains lately? Would you like your children to travel in the same inhuman conditions or possibly worse with uncontrolled migration?
What should I have done
October 31, 2008 at 6:01 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Bihar, Maharashtra
This post is in response to What can I do.
The question that you should be asking is not what can you do, but what you should have done.
What should you have done when …
1. the likes of Laloo, Mulayam and Mayawati were playing casteist politics in your home state.
2. Satyendra Dubey’s and Manjunath’s of UP and Bihar were being killed for fighting corruption.
3. the politcians indulged in all kinds of scams from fodder to the Taj corridor.
4. the politicians have done nothing to rectify the law and order situation in these states.
5. you elected politicians with not only criminal records but also anti-national record.
What do you expect the people of Maharashtra to do when …
1. your politicians make statements like “UP tho hamari hain, ab Maharashtra ki bari hain”.
2. people from UP/Bihar bring criminality and law and order problems to Maharashtra
3. New Delhi based media takes every opportunity to put down Maharashtra.
4. the Hindi based Bollywood induges in blatant attacks against Maharashtrian culture.
5. the infrastructure of our cities can no longer bear the massive influx of migrants from your states.
Double standards of English media
October 31, 2008 at 3:58 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: bus hijack, Rahul Raj
One of the issues of contention amongst Maharashtrians has been the utterly blatant anti-Maharashtrian bias amongst the national media, newspaper as well as electronic. There is no limit to which they will go to save their skin or to castigate Maharashtrians. Here are a couple of instances of their thick skinned hypocrisy.
Recently, Time of India published a news article questioning who exactly shot passenger Manoj Bhagat indicating that the police report does not contain any reference to this shooting thereby implying that it could as well have been the the cops who shot Bhagat during the crossfire. But wait, here is an article by none other than ToI covering the interviews of the bus conductor and a fellow passenger, which clearly identify Rahul Raj as the person who shot Manoj Bhagat in his thigh. Couldn’t ToI provide a reference to its own article when it sought to create confusion about the shooting injury of Manoj Bhagat?
Here’s yet another instance of double standards when it comes to putting a favorable spin on some news.
Allegedly? The bus hijacking by Rahul Raj is a fact captured on camera; CNN-IBN has itself broadcast the videos. Attempted? Surely, CNN-IBN is not indicating that Rahul Raj was trying to take the bus to Bihar? Rahul Raj was in complete control of that bus and he shot a passenger in the thigh, there is no doubt about that. Yet, how did they describe the death of the UP worker Dharam Dev Rai? Lynching?? Do these people even care to what that word means? Did they not notice that no one, neither the dead man nor his friends, had any visible injuries? Didn’t they notice that Rai’s friends appeared completely un-hurt? I admit that nothing can justify Rai’s death, but what can justify this irresponsible reporting by the New Delhi based media.
A season of open letters
October 31, 2008 at 3:13 am (MNS, Maharashtra)
Tags: Raj Thackeray
’tis the season of open letters amongst Maharashtrians of various hues and it leaves me wondering whatever happened to envelopes.
Earlier this year, when the the MNS agitation first took off, Sudheendra Kulkarni wrote an open letter to Raj Thackeray. Unfortunately I’m not able to find a link to this letter at this time, but here’s a link to another, which I believe Mumbaikars as well as non-Mumbaikars should read.
Meanwhile, Raj Thackeray responded to Sudheendra Kulkarni. Many non-Maharashtrians will find this letter from Thackeray particularly enlightening.
However, not to be out done yet another prominent Maharashtrian, Rajdeep Sardesai, has decided to save some stationery himself as he writes an open letter to Raj Thackeray.
Violence begets more violence
October 29, 2008 at 7:01 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Rahul Raj, Raj Thackray
The cycle of violence that started last week with MNS workers attacking Railway Recruitment Board examination centers has seen new heights being achieved every day. The first news I heard was about some minor injuries incurred by the examinees such as this one in which an injured examinee from Bihar was treated for the injuries by a Maharashtrian family. However, subsequently we started hearing more ominous news such as the case of Pawan Mahato and how his father has registerd a case of murder against Raj Thackray; which has now been proven to be a railway accident and ironically a testament to the crumbling infrastructure of the city. Apparently, it is not just the ordinary Mumbaikars who are paying the price for overcrowding and under-development, people from the Railway Ministers home state are doing it as well.
There have been other cases of deaths as well attributed to the strong arm tactics of MNS and although none of them showed any external bodily harm, there can’t be much doubt about the culpability of MNS workers. While they may escape under the cover of accidental homicide, can our conscience do the same?
Indeed, the most shocking incident of the week has to be the Rahul Raj episode. While I can undestand that the people of Bihar might be in a state of extreme despair, is there any justification for this brainless act of hijacking a bus with a loaded weapon? Mumbai is not Bollywood and life in Mumbai is not a movie. Unlike what you may see on the screen, this is a city of cut-throat survival. People try to live here peacefully because they perceive they have a stake in it. It is easy for people in North India to make derogatory and menacing statements about Mumbaikars and Maharashtrians in general, but that is because they have not seen the dark under-belly of this city (and the state). If you were to step here for some time, you would understand why most of the residents, natives or otherwise, have tried to steer clear of the present situation. IF you don’t believe me, today’s incident on the Central Railway local (mentioned above) should be convincing enough. This is not the time to be a hero and provoke Maharashtrians in Mumbai.
But there are other lessons to be learnt as well. It so happens that the police officer who shot Rahul Raj is from the minority community. ACP Mohammad Javed’s actions were supported by none other than Uddhav Thackeray, while Laloo Yadav wants a judicial probe in it. So, do you think there is still some hope for this country?
The Laloo initiative
October 28, 2008 at 5:35 am (Uncategorized)
This post is a direct response to the Raj Initiative, point by point.
1. Family planning is not for us; we should produce more kids than we can support. Then, we should not send our kids to schools, unless we can fix the exam results. We should teach them how to handle a katta, so they can go terrorize citizens by holding bus passengers hostage.
2. We should make Hindi as an official language, so people from the Hindi belt have a natural advantage at capturing central government jobs.
3. We should rig our elections so bad, that the center can’t conceive an election in our state unless they send the Army. If honest Bihari’s like Satyendra Dube write to the Prime Minister’s Office and blow the whistle on our scams, the PMO will always let us know about them. If honest public sector employees, like Manjunath, complain about corruption, we can always riddle his body in bullets, pack it in the trunk of a car and set it on fire.
4. Bollywood stars should be given farmer status in UP, so they can buy prime farming land in rest of India.
5. Exams for government jobs should be advertised in North India in only select languages so not everyone has an equal opportunity at getting the jobs.
6. We should convince the US Department of Labor to stop the labor certification process before giving H1B visa and Green Cards for Indian nationals. People from Maharashtra are stealing jobs from the local americans by actually clearing the labor certification, a concept that is totally unknown to us.
7. We should send our politicians to celebrate Chaath Pooja in other states so they can make statements like “UP tho hamaari hain, ab Maharashtra ki Bari hain”; that will win us a lot of friends all over the country and thus bring the entire country to the lowest common denominator.
8. We should start direct train services to cities and states that are trying to develop and create jobs, because we can’t do the same in our home state. As far as trains that run only within our states are concerned, we should burn them every time some one points that we need to take the responsibility of developing our state. What the hell, we don’t pay taxes anyways.
9. 40% or so of the taxes collected in India, come from Maharashtra, but they should be used to build the Metro in New Delhi and as fodder for scams so we can live as parasites while farmers in Maharashtra commit suicide.
10. Let us create more Kashmir’s, Punjabs and North Easts by letting more people know that they have no stake in the future of the country. Let us follow in the footsteps of Radio-Mirchi and do a Prashant Tamang on other ethnicities.
11. Let us create a socio-economic environment where no MNC would ever want to come to our state and if they dare to, we’ll create enough un-rest that they’ll just pack their bags and go back to the lousy places they came from in the first place. Instead, let us encourage home-grown industries like kidnapping for ransom.
12. Let us also force public sector banks and companies to use Hindi so that more job opportunities are created for people from the Hindi belt. When that is done, let us force it on private and multi-national companies as well so all Hindi speaking people can move around in India with a righteous sense of entitlement.
13. We apparently grow a lot of rice. So, we should ask the government to fix the price exorbitantly high, so that our farmers can make a lot of money, while the rest of the country goes to the dogs (i.e. us anyways).
14. We should not purchase the TATA Nano, because it is designed by Maharashtrians.
15. We should build a railway track from my home town to the town of my in-laws, even if my family is the only one to use it.
16. We should hold a Bhojpuri literature meet in the US, a bigger and better event than the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan being organised in the Silicon Valley next year.
This is just not right …
October 23, 2008 at 6:00 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Raj Thackeray
I just saw this news item about a vegetable vendor dying as a result of injuries that he incurred during the clashes. Given how vested interests take advantage of such situations, I wouldn’t like to point any fingers right away. But, if there is any truth to this, then it is not only sad but also wrong.
Mainstream Maharashtrians understand the grievances of the locals, but let’s be honest here. We don’t hate north Indians and neither do we wish them ill. We want them to do well in their home state so that the natives of Maharashtra will also have access to opportunities in Maharashtra. The idea is very simple … everybody needs to have a stake in the future of their country and everybody needs to share the responsibility. We cannot have a situation where the government of one state expects its people to make all the sacrifices, while the fruits of that sacrifice are enjoyed by those belonging to other states — in particular those states who shamelessly fail to create any opportunities in their own state. Appeasing one community at the cost of another is not going to take the country too far and everybody will be worse off in the long run.
Besides, let us not forget that Maharashtra is not just the land of Raj Thackeray; it is also the land of Medha Patkar, Anna Hazare and Vinoba Bhave.
No one expects to deal with this situation softly, but let us also not cross the limits. All said and done, these are your fellow countrymen.
Cosmopolitanism my ass
October 23, 2008 at 2:33 am (Bihar, Maharashtra)
Tags: Raj Thackeray
IF there is any news organisation to be given any credit for the kind of spin it can put on an issue, then it has to be CNN-IBN. When Raj Thackray and MNS are agitating for jobs for Maharashtrians, only CNN-IBN can put the garb of cosmopolitanism on it.
Maybe CNN-IBN anchors have the wisdom to explain to the people of Maharashtra why cosmopolitanism should be thrust down their throats in their own home state. Whatever happenned to ‘when in Rome, behave as Romans do’? Why not add a Maharashtrian flavor to their identity? If you can call yourself Mumbaikars, why not accept Marathi language and sign boards? If the whole idea behind cosmopolitanism is to force your languages, values and culture on the residents of Maharashtra, then why the hell did we drive the Brits out? We would have been truly cosmopolitan if we had let the Brits stick around.
The fact of the matter is that to many Maharashtrians (and to me personally) cosmopolitanism is not a big issue. The real issue that vibrates with many mainstream Maharashtrians are the dwindling opportunities for the people of Maharashtra.
In the above referenced program, Siddhartha Bhatia asked if Maharashtrian’s working in Silicon Valley should return to make jobs available to Americans. Well Mr. Bhatia, for your information the typical Indians who work in the US on H1-B visa or green card, can only do so if they obtain labor certification issued by the US Department of Labor indicating that there are no qualified American candidates available to fill that position. Your DNA newspaper probably missed out on the stories of Indians forced to return back to India after the dot com bust. You probably are also unaware of the safety nets in the american society of social security and medicare, which helps americans to bridge over the times of economic hardship. In India, it is every man for himself. Case in point… the suicides of Maharashtrian farmers in Vidarbha.
But wait, there is more to this. The present United States of America was founded by immigrants. Everybody in this young nation of over 200 years is a descendant of immigrants. Ok maybe not everyone … definitely not the native americans (red indians to the un-initiated). But do you know what is their condition today? The natives of this landmass are confined to areas known as reservations and you know what is their chief economic driver? It is casino’s and gambling. Yes, america is the most developed and cosmopolitan country on this planet. But how much have native americans benefitted from this? Surely, this is not the future that we envision for the people of Maharashtra.
Besides, it is not like americans accept immigrants with open arms. Illegal immigration by Mexicans into the US is a hot issue here as well that can charge up even the bluest of blue liberal democrats. In fact, the socio-economic aspects of illegal immigration from Mexico to the US are an exact replica of migration from the Bimaru states of UP, Bihar and West Bengal to the more progressive parts of India. Like these Bimaru states, the Mexican government has done absolutely nothing for the development of its people and it unabashedly encourages their migration to the US. In this case, at least the americans have legal recourse to the fact that the US and Mexico are two different countries. There is no legal reourse to people of Maharashtra. Is it any wonder then that the unemployed youth of Maharashtra fall into the arms of Raj Thackray and MNS and vent their anger on the migrants?
Beginning of the end, or end of the beginning …
October 21, 2008 at 3:44 am (Bihar, MNS, Maharashtra)
Tags: Raj Thackeray
That Raj Thackeray would be arrested eventually was inevitable. The question we should be asking now is if this is the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning. But, before we go that far, let us look at what has brought us to this predicament.
The immediate cause is apparently the rioting and violence against out-station examinees at the Railway Reservation Board exams being conducted in Mumbai for lack of adequate representation of Maharashtrians. So, what exactly is Raj Thackeray and MNS referring to? He is referring to the fact that when these RRB exams were announced they were only published in news papers in north India and none was published in Marathi news papers, in spite of the exams being held in Mumbai. So, how has the government explained or intends to explain this clear and present discrimination against the people of Maharshtra?
Now, one would understand the government’s position if this was the first such incident. But, how are we to ignore the fact that this exact same situation occurred back in 2003, when north Indian examinees for the RRB exams were beaten up by Shiv Sena in the suburb of Kalyan? Surely, in the present anti-migrant atmosphere, one would have expected a far more responsible action from the Railway Ministry, particularly when the Railway Minister happens to be from Bihar.
One can’t help but question the motives of the government. But, at the same time is the Indian democracy so toothless that the only response to mischief by the government is public violence? Can’t some one file a lawsuit and put a stay on the RRB exam? Can’t some one file a RTI petition and find the truth behind state wise recruitment in the Railways over the last 5 years?
Maybe the answer to that question lies in the recent layoffs and the reversal thereof at Jet Airways, when the laid off Jet cabin crew found a savior in Raj Thackeray and not the mainstream politicians. As much as the elite and intelligentsia would like us to believe, one can’t help but question if the Indian democracy is hollow at best.
That the people of India can have a great future, is beyond doubt. But, can anyone cherish that future if people are deliberately or otherwise left out feeling that they have no stake in it?
Which brings us to the original question of whether this the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning. And to that question, I ask …. of what? If it refers to Raj Thackeray and MNS, one would have to be delusional to believe this is the beginning of the end.
