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?
tugenensis said,
November 1, 2008 at 7:55 am
sauvik, if as you say, ‘the ugly head of provincial politics’ is raising head, should we just dismiss it as such or try to understand why this is happening? if we never care to understand the root cause of this behavior how do you expect to address it and fix it? do you think in a democracy such as in India, people, even the lay villagers, vote on irrational emotions alone? if so, why does india have so much anti-incumbency? as regards the north east, have we bothered to figure what ails them. are you familiar with the Prashant Tamang-Radio Mirchi episode? can we be sure that such attitudes are not ultimately responsible for the disenchantment of the people from such remote parts of India? as regards to your question about gathering 200 people and asking for a separate land, lemme point you to an interesting fact. Do you know some states in the US have the right to secede if they so wish? Why is it then that these states don’t secede from the US? Because, ultimately all the americans feel that they have a stake in the future of the country. In the long run, no country has managed to prevent any part of itself that WANTS to secede from doing so. The political map of this world was not the same before and will not be the same going ahead; this is just a simple fact of life that everyone has to ultimately accept. Talking about the rat race, been there done that, but please take a look at my latest post, on manooski.wordpress.com. Opportunities are for every one to see indeed, but the opportunity costs are not the same for everyone. Some people are being forced to make sacrifices that others are not. It is easy to look beyond the borders for most of us, the educated elite, who typically tend to benefit from this. But, we don’t represent a typical Indian even by a long shot. Most of the people of this country are illiterate, un-educated. Many of them have nothing but their lands to live by and an equally large no. don’t even have that. The borders that you see are not only linguistic but also socio-economic as different state governments follow different policies. IF possible try to live the life of a small farmer or a farm laborer and you’ll get a better perspective on the situation. Education is still a privilege in India and not yet a fundamental right. Do you seriously think people don’t understand political gimmicks? If you think the vast majority of Maharashtrians are focussed on Raj Thackeray, you are grossly mistaken. Only a handful identify themselves with his tactics, most of us look beyond into what is affecting the people. When you say these boundaries are administrative, do you even understand the significance of ‘administrative’. These administrations decide whether a poor farmer will get booted or get to keep his land. Nobody’s good judgement is affected, if you care to look at the other side of the story as well. A significant portion of India’s east is under virtual Maoist control; that itself is a serious threat that should keep the educated elite awake before they make grandiose statements. All indians, educated or not, will have to address it some day and the answer will not be guns and bullets.