Is Mumbai Losing Its Secular Charm?

By Aditya Mehta 5 March 2008 345 views No Comment

Over the past two weeks, workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have gone on a rampage in Mumbai attacking anyone who is from North India. Under the leadership of Raj Thackeray (Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s nephew who separated from that party to form his own), MNS workers have systematically tried to instill communalism and regionalism in the minds of Maharashtrians by attacking the ‘Bhaiyas (”used in a derogatory manner by Mumbaikars towards North Indians) who have come from the north’.

"Who is Raj Thackeray (above) to decide who lives where in India?"

It all started with Raj Thackeray’s allegation of Amitabh Bachchan (portrayed as an ungrateful North Indian) not giving anything back to Bombay in spite of the city being the source of his fame and his success in life. People in the political sphere quickly took sides. Abu Azmi from the Samajwadi Party, a party based out of Uttar Pradesh, was the first one to lash back by acting as the savior of the North Indian community.

Right from day one, it was obvious that this was a political game that the parties were playing to earn some brownie points ahead of the polls. Bal Thackeray took Amitabh Bachchan’s side. The BJP tried to somehow blame it on the weak rule of the Congress.

The Congress leaders in Delhi put pressure on Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deskhmukh to arrest Raj Thackeray for inciting negative feelings in the minds of people. In a high profile move, both Abu Azmi and Raj Thackeray were arrested. Hours later, they were let out on bail of not more than 15,000 rupees (~$400).

This series of events bugged me in several ways. Who is Raj Thackeray to decide who lives where in India? Do we not have freedom of movement as a fundamental right? If he did have to protest, was beating up helpless North Indian taxi drivers and pan-walas the way to go about it? Why doesn’t he attack Gujaratis, Marwadis, Bengalis and South Indians? Is it because these communities are well established in Bombay and can retaliate in some way or the other? Why were they let out on bail in less than three hours?

I find the MNS workers to be the some of the biggest cowards on the planet. First, they attacked helpless people who had no way to retaliate. They stayed away from the communities who had some political or economic clout. Second, it is easy to be brave when you are talking on a microphone to a thousand people of your community, and that too from behind three layers of armed guards. Third, they forgot that there are more non-Maharashtrians in Bombay than Maharashtrians. I also find Raj Thackeray to be pretty dim-witted. If he thought he could garner votes by such a move, he is surely mistaken.

I felt ashamed that my city, the beacon of cosmopolitanism in the country, arguably one of the most diverse cities in the world after London and New York, had ignorant communalists running around beating up people. How do we expect to be an international financial center when we can’t tolerate people from outside the state, let alone people from outside the country, working here? Imagine what Raj Thackeray and his goons will try to do when we have half a million foreign professionals working here.

Raj Thackeray’s claim is that 70% of the jobs in the city should be reserved for Maharashtrians. Why? Has he ever read the Bombay census data? Are all of them educated enough to qualify for those jobs? He claims that the North Indians have taken the Maharashtrians’ jobs, but most of these jobs are taken by North Indians looking for semi-skilled or unskilled labor anyway. I’m sorry, Mr. Thackeray, did you want to be my building watchman? Or my taxi driver?

Instead of being proud of the fact that we are the most cosmopolitan city in India, that people come here to work from all 29 states and numerous countries, that we’re a dynamic, enterprising, hard working world renowned city, Raj Thackeray chooses to go back to the 19th century and drive away ‘outsiders’. I would like to remind him that he doesn’t own the city or the will of its people. I hope that voters see through this gimmick and vote for the other guy in the upcoming elections.

I have nothing against the Marathi community or the North Indians. But we can’t expect to get anywhere unless we learn to respect each other and find unity in diversity. Only then can we dream of being a superpower.

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