Unlike an overwhelming majority of Non Maharashtrians, I have been ambivalent with regards to my feelings for Raj Thackrey’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. If the Sena was appealing to a large number of educated, cosmopolitan youth, then there must be a reason to it, I used to think and that we should make an attempt to understand rather than dismiss his comments as demagoguery. After all, isn’t democracy all about respecting people’s opinion? I have stayed in Mumbai for close to three years and have no doubts in proclaiming it to be a wonderful city. At the same time, I did feel that quite a lot of people had little respect for the city and its locals. Quite a lot of times, I was corrected by my colleagues / acquaintances that it is not Mumbai but Bombay and that for them, it will remain Bombay forever. Many a times, I was told that the localites are ‘working class’ and at other occasions, have been a witness to people calling others ‘Ghati’. This is not to say that these were all pervading sentiments. In fact, most people in Mumbai are too worried about themselves to bother about anything more. However, a superiority complex vis-à-vis the localites does exist in a small minority. And this minority becomes the source of grievance for the local youth, which are then articulated and exploited by the Raj Thackreys of the world. That iconic movie, ‘Mee Shivaji Raje Bhosle Boltoy’, very aptly captures the issues facing the Marathis in Mumbai, where quite a lot of them find themselves increasingly marginalized by the affluent class, mostly belonging to outside the state. The sad part is that their anger and helplessness gets targeted at the most vulnerable underclass of the city.
The chattering classes must pause and introspect if what they feel about the Marathis is justified or even remotely acceptable. Fighting for one’s constitutional rights is one thing, basic humanity dictates that you will not be contemptuous of your neighbors or look down upon them. It is perhaps the same need to feel superior which makes numerous individuals shirk their language and culture and adopt that of what they perceive to be artifacts of a more superior culture.
While these realizations made me sensitive to the angst of the Marathi Manoos, I never had any doubt that what Raj was doing was plain hooliganism. Raj Thackrey has had a chequered past, his strong links with builders before he became a builder himself came forth to the world’s notice with the Ramesh Kini murder case. He was the person who arranged for beating up of North Indian youth at Railway stations when they had come to appear for Railway examinations, while still in the Shiv Sena and is the person who alongwith Manohar Joshi, purchased Kohinoor Mills, at an unprecedented price (at that time). Raj has been strongly supported by the Democratic Front Government in Maharashtra in his growth. It is not easy to form a party and sustain it without an organization and funds. Ask Uma Bharati, who lost out on everything in spite of huge charisma and mass appeal. Here, not only did Raj prosper, the state kept him out of jail and provided him adequate coverage to appear as a potent voice of the disgruntled Marathi.
Now, with the assault on Abu Azmi, that hooliganism has reached even newer heights. No logic is strong enough to justify this assault. However, it is sad that of all people, it is Abu Azmi who has appeared as a patriot. For the uninitiated, Abu Azmi is widely suspected of having close links with the D Gang with the then Mumbai Police Commissioner R H Mendonca, even having submitted affidavits in court in that regard. Azmi has been associated with at least half the communal riots in Maharashtra in some way or the other and has emerged as a rallying point of anti National of various hues over the years. Even in this instance, it was he who needlessly brought forth the issue by demanding assembly papers in Hindi, when it is normal practice across India to have papers in the State Language and English.
However, leaving the person apart, MNS’s assault on an MLA for the ‘sin’ of taking oath in Hindi, is an Anti National Act. Forget about the fact about Hindi being the official language of India, had any MLA wanted to take his oath in even Assamese or Nepali, it is a right guaranteed by the constitution. Language is a sensitive issue across the world. Qubec almost seceded from Canada for its French speaking majority felt discriminated by the rest of Canada. Closer home, Bangladesh got formed on account of Urdu dominance and we ourselves have seen violent pro and anti language agitations in the country.
In spite of being a Hindi speaking person myself, I cannot imagine me being happy in a situation where I or others are forced to speak Hindi only. If anyone is so interested in furthering the cause of something, why not take positive steps for its furtherance. The Swadeshi movement promoted Swadeshi not by physically attacking foreign made goods but by educating the public on the need to use Swadeshi. Likewise, why don’t the votaries of Marathi or any language for that matter take positive steps to popularize it? Force, that too by an illegitimate authority will only create a backlash, which whichever way it goes, will only serve to weaken National unity.
A parting question to Raj. What if some other person had taken the oath in Sanskrit, the mother language of Marathi? Would the MNS have assaulted that person too?
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