Nation first, regions later: Voice of an Indian

What is the difference between Maharastrians and Marathi-speaking people? Are all Maharashtrains Marathis or all Marathis Maharashtrians? I am a north Indian living in Mumbai for the past three years. I cannot understand the language Marathi just as I can’t understand Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Aasamese, or even Haryanwi. I read write speak and understand Hindi and English. Now, I want to ask the leaders of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena – ‘Am I eligible to stay in Mumbai to live my life or not?’ If not then do I have the right to stay in Punjab, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Aasam and Haryana?

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I think ‘NO’ because according to the MNS supremo Raj Thackeray, knowing the local language is the pre-requisite for staying in any of the states in India, particularly in Maharashtra. More than 13 million people live in Mumbai and more than 70 per cent of them including Ambanis, Bachchans, Khans, Tatas, Birlas, and others don’t know how to speak Marathi and they should leave Mumbai for Marathi speaking people only. I want to ask the political leaders of other parties– ‘Do you have courage to ask these people to leave Mumbai and if they left Mumbai what would you people do in the city that would become dead all of a sudden?’

I do belong to a small town in Uttar Pradesh, a backward state, but I am highly educated person carrying IIT and IIM degree in my hands. Industry is running behind me to recruit me to work for them. Am I looting jobs that suppose to go to any Marathi brother? This is the global world and everybody is free to create his/her own place. Everybody has the rights to go forward to live life happily. This is the world of competition and we will have to compete with others to sustain. We can’t blame others for our failures. How can Mr. Raj Thackeray say that Marathi people aren’t getting jobs because North Indians are here in Mumbai?

North Indians are courageous people. They better know how to live in difficult times because they grow up in completely adverse conditions created by the leaders of their own states. They usually see how bravely their parents face the adverse conditions all the time. It makes North Indian youths strong by mind. They work and work hard; this is the sole reason of their success.

I would blame media for giving so much space to pervert minded Raj Thackeray and his tactics to get cheap popularity in the name of regionalism. Raj Thackeray has succeeded in achieving for what he did all this drama on Mumbai streets. I found Marathi people peace-loving community always ready to blend with everyone. They have no problem with north Indians at large but people like Raj T has. We all know the MNS doesn’t represent even a small section of Marathi people but our media is running in the blind race to make stories on Raj and making him a Maratha brand. Raj T must be extremely happy with the publicity his party has received over the last three days.

Here are some of the questions for Raj T and I am expecting the answers from him-

a) Do you have any formula to define ‘Maharashtrian’, and ‘non Maharashtrian’? Is there any similarity in the name ‘Maharashtra’ ‘Marathi-speaker’?

b) If Mr. A was born in the city in 1950, just after independence, and does not know how to speak Marathi, is he a Maharashtrian or not? If Mr. B arrived in Mumbai in 2007 from Bihar and speaks Marathi well, is he Maharashtrian or not?

c) Are we Indians first or the Maharashtrians, Biharis, Punjabis, Gujaratis, Bengalis first? Isn’t the battle of ‘Maharashtrian’ and ‘non-Maharashtrian’ creating holes in the concept of Indianism itself?

We should not only condemn such kind of politics but also think seriously to stop such nonsense as soon as possible. We are Indians first.