India is a country that prides itself for its unity in diversity.It is next to impossible to find a country having so many ethnicities,languages and cultural variations as is seen in India.In fact ,India has never been one united nation as per historical accounts and so the Indian identity as such is a comparatively recent phenomena.It was only the Mughals under Aurangzeb(bigot par excellence) and later on the British who united India under one administration for their own selfish motives.
The Indian freedom struggle nurtured the pan-Indian identity and weakened the regional feeling among the people.In 1956 the states were reorganized on linguistic lines and since then language has become a rallying point for all kinds of regional chauvinists.What is happening in Maharashtra today is old wine(originally brewed by Raj's uncle Bal Thackeray)being served in new bottle,but the concoction remains as harmful as ever.We all know that there is an undercurrent of sympathy among Marathi Manus(Marathi people) for anti-outsider agitation ,but surely nobody wants the recourse to violence.The definition of outsider needs a rethink as a person of Bihari lineage born in Mumbai is more Marathi than a person of Marathi parentage born out of Maharastra.At the same time ,people coming from other regions should also try their best to assimilate into the local culture but this cannot be done by use of force.
One important point to ponder for Thackerays and all other politicians would be that if tomorrow Indians(who incidentally may be Marathis) are attacked in a foreign country ,with what conviction can the Indian govt. demand that its citizens be protected while it is failing to do so within India !
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1 comment:
I fully agree with you. India has a total of 1652 languages and dialects , but never had any problem of ethnic rivalry during the united freedom struggle against the British. The way British ruled India with divide and rule policy, our own political leaders are inheriting the same legacy. In particular to Mumbai, I feel if Mumbai had been declared as an independent state, then this problem would not have created. After all Mumbai was originally ruled by Portugese and it was later only came to British rule as an indendent state as a marriage dowry (if I am right). Also, i feel had it been an independent state, by now Mumbai would have been much more developed city in the world. The way Delhi is rapidly developing into the modern century, it will take years for Mumbai to take off if these kind of nonsense persists.
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