Ashish Jagtiani asks what exactly Raj Thackeray has done for Mumbai
There has been the whole Maharashtra majha issue since the weekend.
Political vitriol was thrown around and unfortunate violence ensued. I have my two bits to add to this issue.
Let me start with a couple of questions: In what way was this good for the city?
How has all this screaming and shouting and random violence made this city a better place? What road got built, which pothole got filled, where did the water supply increase?
Raj Thackeray is upset with Amitabh Bachchan because it seems he does more for Uttar Pradesh than he does for Bombay, and he acts in Bhojpuri movies to boot! Opinions are being voiced about whether it is simply a Bachchan issue or if this is Raj’s way to attack his uncle and cousin.
It’s a vote bank issue, part of Raj’s grand plot to garner the Marathi manoos vote. It’s getting back at them because he wasn’t invited for Abhishek’s wedding but Uddhav was.
Raj was upset at his alienation from the Bachchans in spite of his erstwhile great respect for them, even while Amitabh was releasing Uddhav’s son, Aditya’s book of poems. Whatever are the reasons, his comments incited violence from his followers and that is unforgivable.
When he complains about Amitabh doing Bhojpuri films, should Raj not focus on who made those movies?
That would be Deepak Sawant, Amitabh’s make up artist for years, by all accounts a fine gentleman and as Maharashtrian as they come. If Deepak Sawant didn’t make those movies, Amitabh wouldn’t act in them. Any MNS goons thought of warning Deepak to stick to applying greasepaint and making only Marathi movies?
The government says it is wary of taking action against Raj and arresting him because it will only incite more violence. This logic is absurd. First we don’t do anything about Bal Thackeray’s comments over the years because we fear a violent reaction, and now the same applies for Raj.
This situation feeds on itself over time. They pretty much say anything they want in public, inciting violence, hatred, communal disharmony and they don’t have to worry about it, because there will be no legal repercussion. Are we a strong nation with law enforcement and judicial arms, or are we a Banana Republic?
The chief minister announces compensation to the victims of the MNS incited violence, people with families to support who lost their means of livelihood because of some illiterate goons. That compensation comes from my tax money, this is not what I signed up for.
I want my tax money to go into practical improvements, infrastructure building and law and order. Raj should be made to pay substantial compensation out of his own pocket for the havoc he has wreaked.
Those pockets seem to be pretty deep, considering he and his partners spent hundreds of crores to buy prime mill land in Dadar, the same Kohinoor Mills that Jaya Bachchan made reference to. Has anybody brought up what the source of his money is?
If Raj has a point to prove about Amitabh opening schools in UP, the honest way to retaliate would be for Raj himself to start a few schools in Maharashtra.
It’s fine to take back the territory from the north Indians, but what exactly has he done for the territory himself? I don’t hear much about that. Maybe there’s not much to talk about.
The heart of the issue is north Indians flooding Bombay. It’s not a Maharashtra issue. I doubt very much that a large percentage of migrants from UP and Bihar are flooding Akola and Sholapur. I’ll hazard a guess that the majority of them are coming to Bombay to look for opportunity and livelihood.
The grouse is that these chaps are coming here and robbing locals of their opportunities and jobs and so the locals of Bombay are suffering. Once he’s done with sending the UPites and the Biharis back home, will he be focusing on the people who come from other parts of Maharashtra?
A Bombay local is in competition for a job in this city with someone from Nashik as much as he is with someone from Patna. Raj ought not to fool himself and make this a Maharashtra issue just because it is convenient; it is mainly a Bombay issue.
Once he’s done sending the north Indians back, maybe he should then focus on sending our country cousins back to their little villages and hamlets in the interiors.
Maharashtra for the Maharashtrians, Mumbai for the Mumbaikars. Let’s see Raj Thackeray’s petty little mind grapple with that.
– Mid Day, Feb.07, 2008
