Mumbaitale 'RAJ'karan

For the past 1 month we have been reading a lot pertaining to the ongoing war between few leaders in Mumbai and the North Indian people/politicians. And the cause is to protect the rights of marathi manoon.
Different people interpreting the whole problem in different ways. The political parties/media are trying to get mileage out of it. Myself being a marathi who is presently staying outside Maharashtra, was also curious and was following up the same since the beginning. I am not very sure how it started exactly, but the comments by Raj gave a good publicity to the whole episode and it all started in a big way. It became a national issue and Raj also became national Hero inbetween.:-)
It won't be easy to say who started it all. We can't blame a single person here. Also it is not so easy to easily justify if whatever Raj did was right or wrong. I won't be writing anything on that as enough has been discussed so far. It's just few points which I felt should be discussed and everybody should be aware of. If one thinks carefully, there are many unspoken things which one must ponder upon. Forget the political angle, but one really needs to think about the core issue. I am also a Marathi, I have stayed in Mumbai and I have closely seen/faced few things. As we say Mumbai is a metro city in true sense. It has always accepted people from all over the country. There is a saying in Hindi that 'Yaha koi Bukha nahee raheta' (Everybody survives in Mumbai). Yes, for decades people from all part of the country, from all races, poor and rich all have come to Mumbai and got sucked into it's lifeline. Mumbai changed fortunes of many. So the so called migrants coming to Mumbai is not new. Then why this sudden outburst. The outburst is also not new. Almost 40 years ago, when Balasaheb Thakarey formed 'Shivsena', the same agitation against the South Indians/North Indians had happened. And it has continued at regular intervals. And yes he benefitted from it to certain extent. His party ruled Maharashtra for a shroter stint.

Mumbai

Why so many people come to Mumbai. Because it is the financial/economical hub, used to be the industrial hub till mid nineties. Film Industry, stock market, IT Industry, Underworld head qurters all were housed here. The growth/development of the city started much earlier compared to other cities in India. Take the examples of Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad it's just past 15 years since the development began. Moreover Mumbai had so called open culture. 'Atithi Devo bhav', everybody is treated like a guest here. Hindi/English were the primary languages spoken here and not Marathi. What else anybody would have expected. So in 60s/70s the industry was also pretty much concentrated here. And the result was but obvious. The jobs were getting created, it needed huge manpower. Jobs were not available so easily in other states.

Till that time all was fine. But eventually what started happening was all the jobs were getting captured by the outsiders. Yes, all low scale/high scale jobs were going to outsider. And the local people were almost thrown out of their jobs which were inherited from their forefathers. All low scale jobs such as labourers, cab drivers, riksha drivers, mill workers, Fisherman, Sabjeewala, middle management, top management, literally all the jobs. These lower or lower middle class people form the masses of society. And when the so called 'bhoomiputra' become jobless/unemployed, that's when the problem starts. I strongly beleive this is what has started happening recently. Say there are some 300 odd jobs available in Railway recruitement and almost 275 go to outsiders, who will not feel bad. Obviously there will be some sort of resentment among the people. On top of it there is this arrogance showed by these outsiders, then there comes the show of strength and the issue become complecated.

Government needs to sit back and think seriously, rather than detaining few people. There should be a concious effort to protect the rights of the locals. You can't make the locals jobless at the cost of outsiders. The industry should not be concentrated at one region. The decentralization of industry has just started happening, but still no sincere efforts have been made by the policy makers. The north states(Rajastan, UP, Bihar, MP) and the north indian states still lack the basic infrastructure and the industries. All the growth still concentrated to few states down south. Wake up government, wake up.
Local people, are we putting in enough hardwork? When someoutsider comes and snatches your job literally. Have you ever though why it has happened? Because he is willing to do all the hardwork. It's question of his survival. Whereas we have become complacent. We don't want to do the low end jobs. We directly want to become managers. "Wakayachee tayareech nahee ajibaat'. Obviously how will you survive in the competition.
Politicains please learn!Coming back to the above episode, the political parties are just taking mileage out of it. They are just trying to play with the emotions and sentiments of the people. I am not defending or justifying what 'Raj' did. But based on whatever little I have learnt, he is enjoying a huge support. Many people may not have openly supported him, but yes he has huge support of masses.
So it will be wrong if you detain Raj or extend the GAG order. This is not at all solving the root problem. If it is 'Bal Thakarey' or 'Raj' Thakarey', tomorrow there will be somebody else. Also Raj never told people to attack the cabbies, Samosawalas, it was all the people who vented their anger.
All the politicians are playing enough with the emotions with people. In fact I strongly believe that they provoke the innocent people, who are otherwise living in harmony. What's the need for 'Amarsingh' and 'Mulayam SIngh' yadav to come down to Mumbai and perform the Shakti pradarshan. We all very well know there leaders have been literally thrown out of the power by Su. Shri Mayawati. Amar Singh and Mulayam are job less in UP and trying to Shakti pradarshan in Mumbai. What's the need for out Honorable Lalu Prasad to challenge 'Raj' Thakaray about the CHAAT Pooja. They need to focus more on their state and not poke nose in other states. Can they do the same in Tamilnadu, West Bengal?
Why are people trying to give a rigional angle to whole issue without solving the root cause. Also are the Gujrati's, South Indians, Bengali's not staying in Mumbai peacefully. Have their leaders ever tried to do any sort of shakti pradarshan in Mumbai. Did anyone ever heard of any issues between Gujrati/marwadi/sindhi and the marathis. Forget mumbai, The gujrati's/marwari's are everywhere in India. They have peacefully setteled in other parts of the world and they have become part and parcle of the scociety where they have setteled. Why the UP/Bihari can't do the same. Why they try to create another UP and Bihar wherever they go? There was even a bigger mess which happened I believe in Orissa. One Bihari comes and then 100 come along with him. No issues with that. But if you are in Maharashtra or anywhere, then respect the local culture. You can not try to force your culture on others. recently I read that the north Indian corporators were demanding 'Hindi' to be made as official language in Mumbai corporation. First of all why is that so? Will you make Marathi as the official language in UP and Bihar corporations. Some Delhi senior office named 'Melhotra' himself has talked about the attitude problem of these UP and Bihari people. Raj has been refrained from making provokative statments. How about Amarsingh, Lalu Prasad, Au Azami???
Politicians, you are all elected leaders of house. Don't yu think it's your responsibility to behave sensibly.?