Regionalist issues in India

Jai Maharashtra!!!!! Mumbai for Mumbaikars

By: Goutam Jayasurya

There's is something about the nomenclatural identity of India’s 28 states. All, except one, have names with either regional (Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland) or geographical (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh) significance. Maharashtra, which means ‘Greater Nation’, is an exception; its self-identification is national.

It is, therefore, distressing that certain local political formations in Maharashtra succumb to the temptation of parochialism every once in a while by projecting non-existent antagonism between ‘natives’ and ‘outsiders’. Invariably, it is Mumbai, India’s first and still the most cosmopolitan city, which bears the brunt of their insularity. In the 1960s, their target was Dakshin Bharatiyas (South Indians). Now, resentment is sought to be whipped up against Uttar Bharatiyas (North Indians).

The notion that any city or part of India belongs only to its ‘natives’ is unconstitutional, repugnant and injurious to the ideal of national unity and integration. From time immemorial, our people have freely moved from one part of the country to another, believing all of India to be their own. As far as Mumbai is concerned, although it is the capital of Maharashtra, people from every corner of the country have migrated to this city of dreams and opportunities since its inception. Mumbai is what it is today because of the contribution of diverse communities inhabiting it. In particular, the two sources of its national and international profile — business and Bollywood — would be unthinkable without a grateful recognition of the role of non-Marathi speaking communities. It would be a great misfortune if Mumbai degenerated into a provincial capital.

It is, therefore, distressing that certain local political formations in Maharashtra succumb to the temptation of parochialism every once in a while by projecting non-existent antagonism between ‘natives’ and ‘outsiders’. Invariably, it is Mumbai, India’s first and still the most cosmopolitan city, which bears the brunt of their insularity. In the 1960s, their target was Dakshin Bharatiyas (South Indians). Now, resentment is sought to be whipped up against Uttar Bharatiyas (North Indians).

The notion that any city or part of India belongs only to its ‘natives’ is unconstitutional, repugnant and injurious to the ideal of national unity and integration. From time immemorial, our people have freely moved from one part of the country to another, believing all of India to be their own. As far as Mumbai is concerned, although it is the capital of Maharashtra, people from every corner of the country have migrated to this city of dreams and opportunities since its inception. Mumbai is what it is today because of the contribution of diverse communities inhabiting it. In particular, the two sources of its national and international profile — business and Bollywood — would be unthinkable without a grateful recognition of the role of non-Marathi speaking communities. It would be a great misfortune if Mumbai degenerated into a provincial capital.

While one must condemn anything that weakens our unifying Indian identity, it would be hypocritical to turn a blind eye to certain harsh social and political realities of Mumbai. With 1.9 crore residents in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area, which includes Navi Mumbai and Thane, its population has rapidly grown to become greater than the combined population of nine Indian states. Its once-famed infrastructure is highly overstretched, lowering the quality of life for rich and poor alike. It once had the best municipal governance in India; not any more. Fifty-four per cent of its residents live in slums, most of which are so unbelievably congested and squalid that it is criminal on the part of any government to let people live in such inhuman conditions. It is well known to authorities that tens of thousands of Bangladeshis, many with voting rights, are living in Mumbai. Some 20,000 houses in the older part of the city are in a dangerously dilapidated state, the reason why every monsoon one reads about people dying in incidents of house collapse.

Mumbai is decaying. But few politicians in the city, state or country are taking a serious and comprehensive view of its chronic condition, and fewer still are willing to take the tough decisions to set things right. By tough decisions, one does not mean banning ‘outsiders’ — north Indians or Indians from any other part of India — from settling in Mumbai. That certainly is wrong. But is it wrong to hold that encroachments should be stopped, that people must not be allowed to occupy pavements and places earmarked for public utilities, or that the cut-off years for regularization of slums must be strictly adhered to?

Indeed, some political parties have developed a vested interest in allowing unauthorised settlements to proliferate for vote-bank considerations. When illegal settlements along the lethally polluted Mithi river were sought to be cleared after the July 2005 deluge in Mumbai, which claimed nearly 500 lives, it was stoutly resisted by local politicians who felt threatened that their voter-base would shrink. Mumbaikars know of hundreds of such examples of duplicity and political muscle-flexing.

The question that Raj Thackeray and many people in Mumbai are asking is: How can slum redevelopment and rehabilitation ever succeed if there is political patronage for the creation of new slums? How can Mumbai ever see orderly urban development, with world-class infrastructure and civic amenities for all its residents, if there is deliberate and corruption-induced disorder in the use of its most scarce resource — land? Indeed, which Indian city can grow well if short-term and partisan political interests undermine a long-term and integral vision of urban renewal? Hence, some of Raj Thackeray’s concerns are right, but he has voiced them wrongly.

Future ahead

Without any further delay it’s high time that Supreme Court and EC should ban political parties headed by Raj and Uddhav thakery and arrest them as soon as possible. Its shame to see that politicians who in yesteryears died to protect and unite their country men are now doing their level best to ruin this mature fabric of civilization. We see that our politicians are going to fathomless depths to degrade and bring shame to the country that was once beacon of growth for the rest of the world just for money and fame. We see those dividing states, dividing people, welcoming bad ethics via their style of working and involving in corruption in every place of a common man's life.

They are no different that a terrorist as they have many things more common to them than to be called a true leader of Indians. They both resort to spread their own baseless ideologies, they both content that their god is great and other form of god is no-no for them they both resort to terrorize people in he name of religion, they both create unrest in society by spreading false rumors , they both work like puppets on commands of some depilated mind, they both work for money, they both live life with treachery and secrecy, they always escape law in their own ways, they take low enforcement agency as granted and make laws as per their requirement, they have no respect / sympathy of innocent people / women or children, they always think of fulfilling they own short time goals neglecting their duties for which they were elected, they would never fight for good cause that helps fellow country men but would fight against those policies that benefits people but not them, they both resort to for groupism and get their illegitimate rights approved and get paid on tax payers money, they both own big bank accounts outside their country and the list can go on and on. If as per Indian law and court, a terrorist, because of their above acts are termed as antisocial element and is considered as an outlaw by the society as well, then why not these leaders who act more shamefully than them with their own country men be allowed to run amok and play with people lives, be arrested immediately because of their heinous acts. People who are till now, like flowers of a garden / gems of a necklace knitted with each other suddenly feel their existence threatened despite the protection given to them by constitution itself. Law should now immediately act before other politicians in other states resort to same act of self annointation. Politicians are here to maintain unity and integrity of the country moving it to more civilized path and not take country to dark ages with aristocratic and anti-human ideologies of working.

Profile of the author :

Gautam Jayasurya,
3rd Year B.A (Hons) LLB,
Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law,
Patiala,
Punjab.
SSRN Author Page: <http://ssrn.com/author=1385329>
Twitter: http://twitter.com/goutamjaybe