How pathetic a politician can be? How mature of a citizen he is to kick out other people from city? Sending your “sena” to accuse and abuse poor people on road? Is this what you call democracy and right to stay, travel, work anywhere across the country?
It is absolutely sad to see all those huge hoardings in Mumbai which asks to give jobs to only mumbaikars or maharashtrians. Or asks north Indians to leave the city. If it has jobs and if it’s a financial capital of the country, how can you complain about non localite people migrating in? Did they not contribute anything to city? Don’t they pay city tax? Who the hell owns the right on the city?? Who are you to ask citizens of the country to leave and show off your right on the place?? So after removing all non mumbaikars, is N mumbai resident going to fight against S mumbai? Or Say Dadar against Andheri?? And hell with Thackeray – are all mumbaikars blind and dumb?
How ridiculous is this to ask employers to hire people who are mumbaites! So you don’t care bout the qualifications, skill set or the worth of that person but his home city?? Bullshit! Which century I am in?
I complained a lot when I returned to Pune after two years – about all non puneites in the city - People crowding for jobs or education. But I would never support to throw them out of Pune. Just because I am born in Pune does not mean I get preference to go to Pune University or get a job in some Pune company over any other Indian.
You talk bout racism and you criticize US for its treatment to international residents – look at you. Is provincialism any better than racism?? America has equal opportunity jobs and no hidden meaning in that.You crave for making your economy strong by making policies n laws against your own country’s citizens? Did someone tell me (proudly) “Mumbai is cosmopolitan”? Well it protests, complains against north Indians, south Indians, central Indians and basically everyone!! NYC has 40% foreign born population has residents from 150+ countries – with jobs and equal rights. AND THAT IS real cosmopolitan.
How is it possible that we will ever unite as a country and forget about locality, city, cast and religion? I guarantee - Not in my lifetime.
12 comments:
Wowowow..
u are right.. but its only him and no one else..
look at it in a slightly diff way..
if u have to popularize a pol prty of a bunch of hulligans in no time.. this is how to do it!
i am afraid our ppl cant see it though!
and it is a metropolitan city.. i support/maintain :)
Sushrut
I would say,.....every problem can be seen in different way....
The view you can think of is just what you can see or understand....may be there can be more to it....
may be his way/method can be different ....but 20% ppl do agree with him...wht abt that....(u can always say think abt 80% other)....
I am not supporting him nor opposing ...what I want to say is...there can be more to it than just some stories published by media....
Vinit
I LIKE this.
I don't really care about any political agendas because it's not directly affecting me (yes, that IS how most people think, whether one likes to admit it or not), but it finally sounds like you're shouting... took you a year of blogging to start yelling in your own space :)
Shout more. I don't have to teach you to curse, do I?
And are you sure about the "equal opportunity jobs"?
I agree, Raj Thackeray and his mates committed a big mistake with this and he should be interrogated about this.
But generalising things about what Mumbai people think....claiming that the entire mumbai is carrying out parochialism is a bit unfair. Mumbai is cosmopolitan and it always was and will always remain that way. A few narrow minded hooligans cant change that...can they?
hmm.. personally I feel that no one should be disallowed to work anywhere in world depending on origin, cast etc etc... But at the same time there should be some solution to the increase in the disproportion of the the physical resources and population dependent on those.. its similar to the situation of restricting the two wheeler licenses (in the city like Pune) and asking people to use public transport.. :)
I have been a victim of provincialism at not one, but two instances in India. I know exactly what you mean. But it exists everywhere. There is a new Law in Michigan where only US citizens and permanent residents are eligible for a driver's license. It is not very public, but male employees do get paid better than their female counterparts in some workplaces in the US, even today. I guess, inequality exists just about everywhere, in some degree or other.
You have considered your view, sitting in the United States of America.
1. Live in the NYC just like most of the people from north live in Mumbai. You will be deported within 24 hours.
2. Ask one question to Mumbai high court judge who hadles criminal cases -- 'which people do more crimes like kidnapping, rape, murder etc in Mumbai whether local Marathi Mumbaikars or people coming from north???'
3. If Americans are so 'nice' then why black people were treated so badly. Why they killed red indians? Today also, there is problem read this article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six
And one more thing.. US has equal opportunity jobs...umm I don't know how much this is true.. since If u carefully observe they already have an upper limit on H1-B visas, which is similar to some kind of restriction enforced on people from other countries although they have a lot more resources than the population. Only difference which I see is that US has in place laws and regulations which are being followed before the situation is out of control while we are still in process of building such rules...
very good opinion piece.. you have conveyed your thoughts well... i agree that no one has any right to consider their group of people elite in any way... however i just want to make something clear as a 'proud' mumbaikar... this is a very small percentage of people who protest... for more than 2 centuries.. even when the brits were still there.. mumbai was and always will be an open land for everyone... there is a reason why every group of people has not only survived but thrived in the city... believe me mumbai is a haven for anyone that arrives there... there are some people who resent this.. when they come in power they can create problems.. but don't be so hasty in condemning us all... mumbai would never be what it is if people there were anything but open and welcoming...
Strong views.. well put.. nice and brave :)
people have to realize that it is difficult to define a 'resident' of a city in the first place. what do they do to check if a person is a mumbaikar or a non-mumbaikar before kicking him/her out? do they ask the person to produce a bonafide? i don't think so!
people just tend to become more and more hypocritical..
Anonymous: " Ask one question to Mumbai high court judge who hadles criminal cases -- 'which people do more crimes like kidnapping, rape, murder etc in Mumbai whether local Marathi Mumbaikars or people coming from north???" - This particular approach of criminalizing an entire subsection of population is a standard propaganda piece and not even particularly new. It is used quite commonly in many regions/countries across the world for ethnic cleansing.
Nobody actually claimed America is all-nice. But in the matter of having large groups of ethnically mixed people living together, they do it much better than we do. *And* we are not even of different races, marathis and north-indians.
Prerana : You are right about H1s. They are indeed restricted. But what are those for? They are for temporary immigrant workers from countries outside the US. For non-citizens.
Let us look at things from the perspective of a citizen. Within the US, for a citizen, there is NO restriction on travel, working or living. US has a much higher racial and ethnic diversity than us. Still there is no restriction. What is being advocated here is restriction of jobs/living based on a narrow regional affinity. Where precisely does that logic end? You should not live or look for a job outside your state? Your district? Your local town?
n-i-c-e!
-AG
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