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At the recent Republic Day parade, I saw with pride – and with a sense of embarrassment – how local Delhiites cheered the Maharashtrian ‘Dabbewala’ tableau. Embarrassment because here was a crowd that celebrated the unity of the nation in cheering their Maharashtrian compatriots, while certain factions of that state are trying to alienate north Indians.
Indeed, Mumbai’s parochial politics that extend the Marathi Manoos agenda in Maharashtra have reached incomparable depths. It’s just another instance of petty-minded politicians going in for vote-bank politics, allowing it to rule over the republic.
For too long, even common people not touched by the agitation had been exposed to some of its linguistic effects. The anti-north Indian strategy by the self-styled custodians of culture in Maharashtra had spawned a new description of the typical migrant from north India: “Bhaiya”. The result: The word is almost a gaali now in Mumbai, the preferred alternative being just “Bhai”.
Then there’s the coining of the word “Dadargiri”. A Mumbai tabloid had even splashed this word on its front page while reporting clashes in the city’s Dadar area between cadres from the Shiv Sena and the MNS that had become very frequent in the immediate aftermath of the latter’s formation. For those who do not know, Dadar is where the headquarters of the Shiv Sena is located, and where MNS founder Raj Thackeray resides.
For most Indian citizens (not ‘non-Maharashtrians’ or ‘outsiders’), this entire Marathi maelstrom acts as yet another reminder of the one shameful aspect that has tarnished Mumbai’s international reputation all too often — a handful of people setting their own criteria for earning bread in Maximum City.
When was the last time there was such a problem in Delhi? I can never ever recall anyone in Delhi ever forcing me to learn Punjabi or some other north Indian language to work in the National Capital.
Funny thing is I do not believe the Marathi language criteria – if it’s just that – will work for the Mumbai politicians who want to keep ‘outsiders’ out. I say this from personal experience. When I landed in Maharashtra from Delhi, my parents forced me to pick up the local language in school (my first choice was French, which was available then, along with such other languages as Sanskrit and Urdu). However, I was pleasantly surprised by the easy-to-understand nature of Marathi, especially its Devnagari script.
Today, I understand Marathi extremely well but never ever use it as I honestly don’t want to murder the language, if you get my drift… But Marathi IS very easy to learn. If I could understand it within a few years just from school and not outside, I fully expect any determined Abu Azmi or a north Indian taxi driver to become fluent in Marathi.
Even the politicians know Marathi is easy!
On Monday, Raj Thackeray changed everything. In what can only be termed as a tacit understanding of how easy Marathi is and how it cannot be a fail-safe barrier to ‘outsiders’, he stated: “Just because one can write, read and speak Marathi does not entitle him to local jobs. For getting jobs in Mumbai, one has to be a Marathi by birth.”
This statement was in the making for quite some time. If not by MNS, then by the Shiv Sena for sure. After all, what do you get if all authorities choose to appease near-separatist (there’s just no other term) politicians’ ranting against people from the rest of India? Such a sick situation is especially guaranteed if there’s an ongoing competition between two political parties.
Till now, just pointing out your nationality was enough to stop a marauding right-wing Maharashtrian. Let me illustrate this with something that happened to a friend of mine.
He was working with a leading telecom company in an interior town of Maharashtra. A local customer came in one day with some issue and started conversing in Marathi. My pal was in the same boat as me in terms of linguistic skills — ‘me understand Marathi, but me no speak’!
For five minutes, the conversation carried on in chaste Marathi by the customer and in Hindi by my friend. Then the customer screamed, in Marathi: “You are in Maharashtra. Speak in Marathi!” In the wink of an eye, my pal retorted: “I am a Hindustani in Hindustan. I will speak in Hindi.” The customer threw his head back and exclaimed a long drawn “Arre yaar”, and resumed his business — in Hindi!
But that was many years ago. With Raj Thackeray’s latest outburst, no right-wing Maharashtrian is going to change his stance now.
Contrast this with what Delhi shopkeepers have achieved over the years. At most major markets in the National Capital, they don’t just recognise their customers’ languages, they actually follow the conversation and intersect — ‘innocently’ — their marketing skills. This comes from assimilation, not loss of culture.
Why can’t all people, especially those in and on the fringes of power, allow for more assimilation? The right-wing elements in Maharashtra say they are only looking out for their own community. That their ‘sons-of-the-soil’ agenda is for furthering the Marathi Manoos cause. Now who’s against that if it’s done in the proper and, more importantly, legal manner. Why not just educate and equip all Maharashtrians with the right skills for jobs? Why not stop the rapid spread of slums that has skewed Mumbai’s population in such a manner that 60 per cent have become slum-dwellers? Why not remember eternally that Maharashtra is in India and is not, repeat, not some other country? Then at least politicians could stop talking in terms of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’.
Even otherwise, what escapes me is the logic of keeping non-Maharashtrians out of Mumbai when a majority of Mumbaikars are not even Maharashtrians. Although no one in their right mind would allow such a situation, hypothetically speaking, if only Maharashtrians are allowed to live and work in the state, I fear the worst for the western state’s overall progress and development.
What’s more, with fast-changing demographics in most Indian metros providing similar statistics in terms of ‘local-outsider’ ratios, I shudder to think what would happen to the GDP if all states start taking a similar stand on ‘outsiders’.
Till now, north Indians just restricted their reaction to such developments with a very sarcastic “Jai Maharashtra” greeting to their Maharashtrian pals. I wonder if their tolerance will continue now. How long will the ‘bhaiya’ remain a peaceful ‘bhai’?
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