I have always felt, since the time I could think coherently about political affairs, that our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had committed a colossal mistake by carving up the various states in India on the basis of linguistic lines. As an idealist he must have felt this was the right thing to do but then he overlooked man’s propensity, even if he is a highly educated individual, to be extremely parochial when it comes to religion or race or ethnicity.
Politicians being politicians, the world over, will by nature, try to exploit every fissure in society to their advantage. Mumbai – among the most cosmopolitan cities in India has been in the throes of street violence prompted by the rabble rousing speech of Mr. Raj Thackeray, where not only did he invoke the latent Marathi pride but called for the ouster of all North Indians from Maharashtra. These were the guys who were, supposedly, taking up all the local jobs and though he did not say in so many words, meant that they ended up vitiating the air over Maharashtra. Surprisingly, except for the film fraternity, there hasn’t been a single whimper of protest from the so called urbane intellectual class. The rest of India and the world are no different.
The political equation, though, is entirely different and complex here. The Congress/NCP combine are pushing the MNS (Raj Thackeray’s party) to grab a sizeable portion of the Marathi soul that the Shiv Sena, (which had its formative roots in the Marathi pride syndrome), was gradually vacillating away from, in its endeavour to project a more nationalistic flavour. The Congress/NCP stands to gain a lot of ground when the vote bank becomes as much fractured as possible, while the Samajwadi Party hopes to create a foothold by riding on the backs of the sizeable North Indian migrant population in Maharashtra.
Early pre-independent India, when it was still ruled as a conglomerate of princely states didn’t have to struggle with linguistic driven parochial violence and where the political shenanigans of the modern world were missing. I wonder what history would have been like if Nehru didn’t choose to divide the states the way he did.
We haven’t seen the last of such violence and with our politicians being what they are, expect an encore of the appalling narrow mindedness that the modern populace is capable of.
Politicians being politicians, the world over, will by nature, try to exploit every fissure in society to their advantage. Mumbai – among the most cosmopolitan cities in India has been in the throes of street violence prompted by the rabble rousing speech of Mr. Raj Thackeray, where not only did he invoke the latent Marathi pride but called for the ouster of all North Indians from Maharashtra. These were the guys who were, supposedly, taking up all the local jobs and though he did not say in so many words, meant that they ended up vitiating the air over Maharashtra. Surprisingly, except for the film fraternity, there hasn’t been a single whimper of protest from the so called urbane intellectual class. The rest of India and the world are no different.
The political equation, though, is entirely different and complex here. The Congress/NCP combine are pushing the MNS (Raj Thackeray’s party) to grab a sizeable portion of the Marathi soul that the Shiv Sena, (which had its formative roots in the Marathi pride syndrome), was gradually vacillating away from, in its endeavour to project a more nationalistic flavour. The Congress/NCP stands to gain a lot of ground when the vote bank becomes as much fractured as possible, while the Samajwadi Party hopes to create a foothold by riding on the backs of the sizeable North Indian migrant population in Maharashtra.
Early pre-independent India, when it was still ruled as a conglomerate of princely states didn’t have to struggle with linguistic driven parochial violence and where the political shenanigans of the modern world were missing. I wonder what history would have been like if Nehru didn’t choose to divide the states the way he did.
We haven’t seen the last of such violence and with our politicians being what they are, expect an encore of the appalling narrow mindedness that the modern populace is capable of.
1 comment:
Really well written piece, Supratim.
Its very disconcerting to see centuries-old prejudices accompany modern perspective into the new millennium. Were it not for these, no politician would be able to do what Raj could with such ease. They act as a culture medium for nasties to feed and grow on.
As with everything, we deserve the politicians we get.
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