Language problem ???

Raj Thackeray is once again in the news and for the wrong reasons. He wants Jaya Bachchan to apologise for hurting the sentiments of Marathi speaking people. Nothing wrong in asking for an apology for any perceived wrong done to someone, but what is wrong is the way in which he demands an apology “…either you say sorry or we will make you feel sorry …”. Raj Thackeray is a non-entity as far as Maharastra politics is concerned and this looks like his only way to get few minutes of airtime. With the proliferating news channels always on the lookout for such (un)noteworthy events, people like Raj get their share of publicity. What upset Raj Thackeray was Jaya’s insistence on speaking in Hindi at a function after duly apologizing to the Marathi speaking people for her inability to speak in marathi. Now some busy-bodies from media or elsewhere read something between the lines which suggested to them that Jaya was making a barb at Raj Thackeray and his love for Marathi. Now the situation looks like taking a turn for the worse as some people are going to jump in to get their share of political mileage out of this. Language is synonymous with identity in our country and there have been ugly incidents in the past where people have been attacked and even killed for belonging to a particular linguistic group. The killing of hindi speaking migrant labourers in Assam ,the attack on Tamilians in Bangalore , and many such incidents which don’t get reported point to some systemic flaw in our conception of nationhood.We think of ourselves as belonging to one nation and sharing a common brotherhood only in case of war, natural disaster ,cricket match etc. Otherwise, our identity as an Indian always takes a backseat to our identity as a Marathi, Bihari, Bengali, Tamil, Kannadiga, Punjabi etc. This is what allows people like Raj Thackeray to issue threats and take shelter under the umbrella of regional chauvinism.