Nov 22.The ghost of lingual and regional chauvinism has raised his head again.And the habitat is the same,the financial capital of India,Mumbai.Ever since the attack on Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi in the Assembly, the evil spirit of regional violence has woken up after barely a year.The perpetrator is the same,MNS chief Raj Thackeray.Barely a year ago, Raj's goons carried out a month long offensive against North Indians in Maharashtra. Raj's uncle,Shiv Sena supremo and 'parent' of the 'bhumiputra' agenda , Balasaheb Thackeray had indirectly supported the tirade against the migrants.In a bid to outdo his ambitious nephew,Balasaheb had launched a verbal tirade against the North Indians in his party newsletter,Saamna.Who gains and who loses from this irrational violence?Well, there is nothing wise in violence. But the question still forces us to think.Is it the MNS,Shiv Sena or the state government who is using the MNS to cut the Marathi vote bank from the Sena.Whoever the gainer may be, the clear losers are those migrant workers who come to this "mayanagari" in search of a livelihood.Their mistake is just that they speak Hindi or their mother tongue.
This is not the first time Maharashtra has witnessed violence on regional grounds.If we go back to the 60's, similar onslaught was carried by the Sena who was in the nursery.That time the victims were the south Indians.The Sena cadre workers used to manhandle South Indians,vandalise South Indian restaurants, offices and other properties.This time , the victims are the north Indians from UP, Bihar and other Hindi speaking states.The Sena and MNS allege that the marathi manoos can never prosper unless these outsiders are thrown out of the state.
Now I would like to ask who has given the parties like the Sena to decide who shall reside and who shan't.According to the constitution of India, every Indian citizen has the right to reside and settle in any part of India.I would also like to question those people sitting in constitutionally elected people their unwillingness to protect the migrant's rights. Its high time when we stand up together to prevent such narrow minded people from being successful in their objectives.Otherwise, the day is not far away when our country is broken into several states on baseless grounds.