Mumbai, the financial capital of India, is in the grip of violence & turmoil these days. All because of a novice politician who is hell-bent on proving himself as the greatest savior of Maratha pride second only to the legendary great Shivaji of 17th Century. This politician is Raj Thackeray , the nephew of Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackray, and head of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Raj has been giving anti- North Indians statements for quite sometime and is ridiculing the festivals of Northern India (particularly the Chhat festival of Bihar). Just a few days back, he alleged the superstar Amitabh Bachchan of not doing enough for Maharashtra and insulted him for his love for the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Amitabh, who originally belongs to Allahabad (a city of UP) is very close to a North Indian politician Amar Singh of Samajwadi Party in UP. 
Raj Thackeray publically insulted Amar Singh, questioned the integrity of Amitabh and declared that Amar Singh will not be allowed to enter into Mumbai. He warned all North Indians to behave themselves in Mumbai.
Yesterday, wide spread incident of violence between supporters of Raj Thackray and Samajwadi Party (of Amar Singh ) were reported in Mumbai. We saw the grim images of innocent North Indians being brutally beaten by party activist of MNS. Poor taxi drivers were dragged out of their taxis and were brutally beaten by them, the stalls of many daily hawker were thrashed and many poor people were harassed just for their being an outsider in Mumbai.
In my opinion, these activists are not members of a political party. They are goons and criminals. The nation is in rage and strong protests against Raj Thackray have started in the country (especially in North India). In a democratic country like India, everybody has the right to move freely and earn his livelihood wherever he wants. Our constitution guarantees this by means of Fundamental Rights. There are no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, religion or any regional basis. But Mr. Raj appears to be totally ignorant about our constitution and its contents. He is behaving like a novice and his actions have already made him extremely unpopular among the masses.
Let me tell you about something about North Indian people living in Mumbai. I get this information from a leading newspaper of India.
In it’s population of 1.5 Crore (15 millions), Mumbai has 30% people of North Indian origin. This figure includes the population of Mumbai and it’s surrounding suburbs. If you add the percentage of South Indians and Gujarati/Marwaris living in Mumbai, you will find that almost 82% people living in Mumbai are outsiders and only 18% of the population is the original native of Maharashtra. Among all the Hindi speaking people in Mumbai, 80% belongs to UP & Bihar. The maximum among these are from the districts of Eastern UP like Benaras, Jaunpur, Ajamgarh, Pratapgarh, Allahabad and Basti. Some of the most essential services in Mumbai are being provided by these people. The trades related to Dairy, Milk production, education, Paan (betel leaf), Taxi transport, Flour Mills, Vegetables, Security Guards and junk items are being managed by North Indians in Mumbai. In fact these people have become part and parcel of the life in Mumbai and they are doing their best in making this city the financial hub of India. As such a blatant attack on them is likely to hamper the overall functioning of the city. Further this does not bode well for the rest of the country as well.
Mr. Raj Thackray has been a struggling politician since the time he separated from his parent party Shiv Sena. He is behaving like a flop actor who, despite his fading popularity, tries to be in the lime light by making sensational scene in the public.
Raj is a great admirer of Hitler. He once said on his birthday:
“Hitler had everything. The one thing he did not have was the ambition to conquer the world,” Raj said, adding, “you can draw whatever conclusions you want from my remarks.” (See Source)
Mr Raj ! your are not living in the Nazi Germany of 1939. You are living in India of 21st century. Please don’t try to repeat what Hitler did during those times. It will backfire on you very heavily.
UPDATE : What follow below are the comments of our fellow Indians on this issue. Some people are very angry with Raj, some are his strong supporters whereas some are disappointed with this entire issue. Some people have used extremely abusive language ( censored at appropriate places). Some have even criticized me and have questioned my knowledge of this subject. Feel free to make a comment here if you wish. No matter which side of fence you are, please don’t use abusive language in your comments.
Further Update : This article was written on Feb 4, 2008. It’s been more than a year and I suppose it has served its purpose of highlighting the issue of Marathi/non-Marathi from the perspective of both sides. Though I am still getting comments from people, I suppose it will be unnecessary to drag the debate any further. Therefore, I have decide to close the comments option for this post.
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dear Mee marathi
First clear the air ……..ur fight is only with poor non marathis ?
why dont U ( great ) come to compete with big industrialist , educationist .. film heros top level corporate people other business mans ( who are mostly non marathis).
All those poor people are coming from small town , fighting all odds and are surviving. instead praising their attitude and adopting their spirit locals are fighting with them out of jelousy. You people are exposed to everything .. every opportunity .. all kind of career paths are open to every body in mumbai.
if outsiders are abale to take that oportunity why cant you ?
We all are living in India .. YOU can not stop people moving from one state to another.
Yes illegal jhopod patti bangladeshi intruders those things are very much stoppable by our ministers
by the way there also marathis are running the show is’nt it ???
I am a marathi myself. i respect the feelings of maharashtrians. but i am strictly against violence. whatever may be the reason one cannot justify the brutal beating up of north indians. We marathis are mostly peace loving(as most people thought before all this happened)but this issue has made me ashamed. All right I agree there is problem in railway recruitment examinations but after beating innocent students has the matter been solved? Those students don’t know that railway exam advertisemints are not given maharashtra. then why beat them. why not try and create pressure on the govt regarding this issue? If maharashtrians(including me) want changes we should follow the gandhian method(not against non-marathis but against north indian leaders who are to a little extent responsible for bringing so many outsiders in MH). Remember gandhiji’s spiritual heir was Vinobha bhave and we should respect both of them and there way of protesting or tackling an issue. They never used voilence against britishers. and we are using it on our own brothers and sisters. I also requaest my north indain freinds that all marathis are not of the same point of view. shivsena lost when it started a similar agitation against south indians(it lost in marathi majority areas also). I think this is enough to prove that all marathis are not with raj thackeray. i love maharashtra and india within my heart. And all the local issues should be solved with some dignity from both the sides.
Hello to all.Iam a hardcore maharashtrian and let me tell you that my love for maharashtra is not less than other marathis writting in this blog. But I strongly feel that what raj is doing is wrong. I know local ppl may somtimes feel that the north indians are crating problems in maharashtra but I feel that what raj thackeray is doing cannot stop this problem. marathis will have to work hard and show to the world that we(marathis who are indians also) are less than noone. raj thckeray is just trying to secure his votebank insread of doing something concrete for marathis.we maharashtrians are being beefooled by a politician. so next time you(marathis and non-marathis)vote, please remmeber who not to vote for.
see let me clarify at the beginning itself,i am not supporter or oppressor of raj thackeray so i dont want hate slogans against me,and read this with your senses and not by predicting beforehand this is against biharis,ups and all
i am a man who just supports truth
ok,whatever you say u r supporter of raj thackeray
how come?let me tell you
the more you swear him call him a**h***,m*******,b********,etc more you are gathering votes for him.
its works like this.
more u swear people will be curious why you are swearing and if maharashtrian see this campaign against them(raj is anyways maharashtrian)you think they will support you? even if he is not supporter of raj he ll vote for him.
u wont notice it sitting there,six months ago he was nothing and now when he is arrested 10000 people get arrested for protesting arrest,bandh is called in mumbai by traders,6 lakh register in 3 day time to his party.his party goes to every rural village in maharashtra.
how did this happen?
thanks to the amazing tv campaign “raj ne fir ugla zeher” by ndtv,india tv,aaj tak and all
and if this continues,i bet he ll be chief minister someday and then he ll be ruthless to up/bihar people more than what modi was too muslims
(there was similar hate campaign against modi,people called him hindu fanatic,hater of secularism etc…what was the result gujurat people voted him again…gave him majority in legislative assembly)
same thing is gonna happen in maharashtra…now i wont tell u wat u should do..i am not your guide if u think i am wrong go ahead and swear him even more..smart people will keep their cool
Raj is a stupid coward just promoting the idea that Maharashtra just belongs to marathis, and no one else.. He believes just in his own stupid principles and doesn’t believe in equality among all the Indians.. I think that he may divide India even more, and build up a separate country for Marathis… He is a foolish,quarrelsome person, and has no sense of anything..
RT is just doing this so he can garner votes of the uneducated and illiterate and unemployed of maharashtra- after all which educated person would vote for him. Like BT used it to gain popularity by targeting south indians in the 60’s and like Advani went on his rath yatra in the 90’s. Once they gain enough support they change their tune and even hire north indians like sanjay nirupum for example. Basically the politicians are exploiting the common man at the cost of his limb and life for their personal selfish gain. Most tax in mumbai is paid by non – maharashtrians – check the stats if you want. Yet these ppl have the audacity to claim mumbai belongs to only them. Divisive politics helps no one. Even the high court has termed him a terrorist hasnt it? ( Not my words but an Hon’ble judge’s). After all isnt anybody who terrorizes people a terrorist ( again not my words but a learned judge’s)
Hello,
I am a raj,
Today i will tell you god is given a birth to people to love all the people in any country like in India or other country .When the india or pakistan are not diveded in India or pakistan. Then Mahatama gandhi said to all the people are only one god of son no any oneis caste or any one is a any bar.
So, friend I will said to you only you help other people those people are rich or poor people . You have a qualified person but old person will not a qualified peson but have a brain . He help the other people or when pakistan will divided in India those people are come forward in one line in backside for gandhiji ,
No any state or country you are only indian.Friend you will fit your mind.
so , friend you will see the india come in number 1 in the world so you will do this thing .hard work , love the people , help the poor people, do’nt hearing the any politician.
so , friend iwill tell one something only not hearing
the politician .
Eg: Like the bagath sing , pandith jawaharlal , sivaji maharaj, ranilakshmi bye! lakshmi bye is a women it is not war only the rajwada to sit on the chair of rajwada she is a indian women .In war lakshmi bye is death left the small child in india those are very small he is not know the where is my mother . he is only drink the milk. she is death only one thing you will leave in india in happiness or enjoyment
SO………….. FRIEND………….YOU………ARE……….ONLY…….INDIAN…..
OK
BYE
any thing i will write a the wrong .
Iwill say’s sorry
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