Some thoughts on the MNS and Rahul Raj
- There is no justification for violence. There was no need to beat up students and equally, no need to destroy property.
- If MNS knew about these examinations earlier (the Shiv Sena claims they did) they should have protested in other ways. Large scale protests at examination centers or on railway stations, or even using media cleverly to give publicity to the issue in Maharashtra.
- There seem to be more than enough instances of Lalu Raj being enforced in Railways. (Quick example here: Oriya MP Karbala Swain complaining against alleged discrimination)
- Earlier protests by MNS, such as signs being painted in Marathi, are actually in accordance with the provisions of the local laws. While it is incorrect to beat up people and destroy property, the demands of MNS are valid to the extent that they are in accordance to the laws.
- The theme of MNS is going to be the same overall: most Maharasthrians I know, myslef included, agree in varying degrees with their demands. however, most Maharashtrians I know do not agree with their ways. This shall probably cost Raj Thackeray some votes, but then again, people like me are not his target population.
- The other issue is the schizophrenic nature of Mumbai.Being the Financial Capital of the country makes it a melting pot. Being the capital of Maharashtra makes it uniquely Maharashtrian. Problems arise when this delicate balance is broken. For many years, this balance was not broken. While Shiv Sena rallied against Tamilians and Muslims at specific times, it did not really destroy the balance. MNS has tended to copy the same methodology. However, without a powerful development agenda, MNS will end up making the same mistake as the SS. Opening a Pandora’s box and adding one more (dysfunctional) personality to Mumbai’s burgeoning personalities. With no solution in sight.
- The Rahul Raj case was painful. It is painful to see a young man in the avatar of a hijacker/ terrorist. As per reports, he shot one person (a Mr.Bhagat) and tried to strangle the conductor. A hostage situation like that is scary.
- Hindi news channels have shown an unbelievable bias in reporting the Rahul Raj issue. For a change, Star News tried to look at both sides of the story. Some others tried to show how Rahul Raj was a ‘normal’ boy. After showing his ‘normal’ background, one news anchor of NDTV Hindi said in a sarcastic tone.."So, this is the boy whom the Deputy CM of Maharashtra calls mentally unstable". So, trying to strangle a bus conductor with an iron chain, shooting a passenger for no reason and trying to assassinate a politician is normal behaviour?
- The most disgusting visuals of the whole episode was Lalu trying to make political capital out of this issue. While there shall be a high level enquiry in this incident, it seems clear that the hijacker tried to kill people (the conductor and Mr. Bhagat) and had every intention of trying to kill Raj Thackeray. To say that this person is a Bihari youth who has been shot down mercilessly by the police is the lowest form of political mileage. I believe in the action taken by the Mumbai Police, though of course, the final report is awaited. In these times of terror, if the person does not give up his arms and surrender, and there is a wounded person as a hostage, there is little that any defence force can do.
- I don’t know how many people may actually want to kill Lalu, but if Lalu is faced with a situation like this, will he not pick up the phone and tell the Police to shoot the guy down?
- The decorative turd on top of this shit cake was Lalu trying to lay the blame of Rahul Raj’s death on Raj Thackeray. As far as I could make out, in Lalu’s warped mind, Rahul Raj was ‘provoked’ by Raj Thackeray due to the violence initiated by Raj T (highly probable, though we as of now we have no conclusive proof of that). Obviously, the most natural reaction to this would be for some ‘aggrieved’ person to get a country made revolver, climb a bus and try to shoot Raj T, who was at least 10 kms away. How was this particular individual affected by Raj T? If violence is not justifiable one way, it can”t be justifiable the other way. The ownership of that action was with Rahul Raj alone. And if people like Raj T are parochial thugs, who have mental issues (as per the eminent psychiatrist Mr. L P Yadav) what are people like Rahul Raj?
- ‘Oh, but if Raj T had not done this, the ‘youth’ would not have been motivated to do this.’ is another argument that many people throw up, as if trying to find the root cause. This argument makes me want to throw up. Ok. Let’s try to put some reverse spin on this spin: Let’s go back some 15 years. If Lalu had not turned the beautiful and rich state of Bihar into the hellhole it has turned into, maybe people like Rahul Raj would not have had to leave Patna and search for jobs in Mumbai in the first place. How is that for a first cause?
- Mumbai and Maharashtra have always welcomed people with open arms. The issue is, today, there isn’t much space to widen those arms, due to the sheer extent of migration. Also, UP and Bihar-based politicians are trying to create vote banks out of the immigrants from North India, which will further divide the city. ( I have written about this earlier in another blog post, so not repeating it here). Contrary to popular opinion, it is not Maharashtrians alone who are against this (in fact, many Maharashtrians, myself included, are not against migration, though skilled migration is more deisrable in my opinion). Gujaratis, Tamils, Marwaris etc. are also against this deluge. Violence is a ridiculous way of handling these issues and there seem to be no easy answers to this. The least we can, as Indians, do is sort it out peacefully, without violence ( like Raj T) and without raising emotional and political stakes (like LP Yadav).
- I also believe that as a migrant, one needs to understand the local language and try to enrich the place which you have adopted. In Ahmedabad, I learnt Gujarati quickly and I tried to learn Kannada in Bangalore, though unsuccessfully. I dont know how much I enriched the places, because I was too young when in Gujarat at least. Can we, as migrants, look at this model? By migrant, I mean a person who has settled in a place which is not his/her home. Shivajirao Gaekwad, a Maharashtrian, is one such example. He has enriched the South Indian Film industry in particular by his sheer contribution. There are hundreds of MArwaris in Maharastra and W Bengal who speak Marathi and Bengali, respectively, better than the natives. The Parsee test of migration, in my opinion, is the best way to look at the problem of migration. How can I mix with the milk without making it overflow? Am I adding sugar to the milk, to make it sweeter, or am I at best an impurity?
well i totally agree wid you wat happened wid rahul raj was ethical nor was it the only way the cops would have delat wid it ……..well i think according to me where people like raj of mns fame who try to divide the nation on basis of language roam freely wid a three tier security around them destroying public property and beating around people wid no reason it seems like this state and this nation is going in a wrong way ….but its time now that people starting thinking abt issues like this coz…wats happening is not good and may be someday i would like to well i think i dont have words now n i think its time to do something something that can change the ppl around me and may be even me ……………and according to me was the mumbai cops did was totally wrong and something uncalled for ………rahul raj may ur soul rest in peace
Rahul
The point of my post is different. I am saying Rahul Raj should have been shot,even if he had been a Rahul Raje (a Maharashtrian) or a Rahul Rajulu (an Andhraiite) or anybody else. He shot and tried to kill two people. About Raj Thackeray, Raj T’s actions are deplorable, but the issues raised by him need to be heard. More than Raj T, it is people like Lalu who are discriminating, creating subtle barriers for people from other states, be it Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu or wherever, and they are trying to mess up the systems. (Lalu once said that candidates from Maharashtra are not good enough to get admissions in Railways, forgetting his state, which has unfortunately become another word for ‘backward’). My objection to Raj T’s actions is that they are extreme. He should use subtle methods to deal with these issues.
Mr. Nandan, imagine that “Rahul Raje” to be in Europe or US or outside Maharashtra protesting for something similar and imagine him to be one of your relatives, your view will drastically change.
Is there any value of life or not? If these police men were no good to control or over-power a single youth with a single gun on an open bus-top; how do you think dreaded terrorist(s) with multiple weapons in closed buildings are captured. It requires a “WILL”. Did they even try to persuade and capture or incapacitate him? How many shots you think are there in a country made revolver to do “indiscriminate” firing? How many people got the “Gun-shot wounds”? I think that life could have been saved. As per Mr. Raj T and LP Yadav are concerned, it’s their business. So if they get killed or hurt, no one would care, at least I dont. But I know they never will, because they always have their security cover and their caves to rant. They are not at-all concerned about the fate of Bihari youth or Marathi youth. They just want to collect Vote and Chanda. Very soon you will have goons in Andheri asking people from Bandra not to come and do business.
What is there to be heard from Mr. Raj T? What issues he has? He says people from UP / Bihar come to Mumbai, drive taxi or have milk-shed or do other business and do chhath pooja. Who will decide what pooja I should do? Who have stopped the locals from doing those businesses themselves? Given a chance will they do that? Mr. Raj T started distribution of milk… how far that project has gone? What percent of market they have covered? Its not easy, it requires hard-work. Who ever is a migrant is a hard-worker, and this is a fact, all over the world.
I hope you believe in Indian constitution and India being one country, (unlike people of Thakre clan). I hope you know that Indian railways serve this whole country and its staff can not be changed at each state border. When there is an common exam, how do you think that these “backward” people succeed over these Intelligent Intellectual marathi manoos? Can’t mr. raj thakre arrange for proper coaching and learning center so that marathi chaps should also be able to compete? Reservation of any kind has never helped, neither the individual nor the country. So I would rather ask the marathis to grow-up… be prepared to compete or be prepared to be eliminated one way or the other.
listen people the blame can’t be put solely on a single guy…we all kno wats happening in our very own motherland…if lalu is wrong even raj thackrey is wrong…so lets just not blame it on anyone cuz politicians they are all the same…watever they do is for earning votes…the fault is all ours bcuz we are the ones who give votes and make these people our leaders…we need to learn how n who should be our leader…lets not sound as a Raj T supporter and not even as an anti…some points from both sides of the story are correct…as far as Rahul Raj is concerned he’s dead and now nothing can be done to bring him back from dead…the media and the politicians have already made it way too bloddy…we must do something so that such situations for a father and mother never ever arise again…spread literacy and harmony…stop brutality…follow the law…live and let live but yes never stop raising your voice against injustice and crime…
We all should support Raj Thackeray and take his initiative ahead by doing more…
1. We should teach our kids that if he is second in class, don’t study harder.. just beat up the student coming first and throw him out of the school
2. Parliament should have only Delhiites as it is located in Delhi
3. Prime-minister, president and all other leaders should only be from Delhi
4. No Hindi movie should be made in Bombay. Only Marathi.
5. At every state border, buses, trains, flights should be stopped and staff changed to local men
6. All Maharashtrians working abroad or in other states should be sent back as they are SNATCHING employment from Locals
7. Lord Shiv, Ganesha and Parvati should not be worshiped in our state as they belong to north (Himalayas)
8. Visits to Taj Mahal should be restricted to people from UP only
9. Relief for farmers in Maharashtra should not come from centre because that is the money collected as Tax from whole of India, so why should it be given to someone in Maharashtra?
10. Let’s support Kashmiri Militants because they are right in killing and injuring innocent people for the benefit of their state and community..
11. Let’s throw all MNCs out of Maharashtra, why should they earn from us? We will open our own Maharashtra Microsoft, MH Pepsi and MH Marutis of the world
12. Let’s stop using cellphones, emails, TV, foreign Movies and dramas. James Bond should speak Marathi
13. We should be ready to die hungry or buy food at 10 times higher price but should not accept imports from other states
14. We should not allow any industry to be setup in Maharashtra because all machinery comes from outside
15. We should STOP using local trains… Trains are not manufactured by Marathi manoos and Railway Minister is a Bihari
16. Ensure that all our children are born, grow, live and die without ever stepping out of Maharashtra, then they will become true Marathi’s
JAI MAHARASHTRA!
@ Vipin:
Thanks for completely misunderstanding the post. You have destroyed many straw men. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawman)
@ Shruti:
I agree with you when you talk of spreading literacy and harmony. In my post, I am saying that MNS is using the wrong methods, though many of their demands are genuine, in my opinion. Lalu and other Bihari politicians are raising the stakes and adding oil to fire, especially in Rahul Raj case, where their position is completely unjustified (again, in my opinion and given the current facts of the case) This escalation is not helping anyone.
@ Raman Raj:
Some clarifications: first, I am not a spokesman for Raj Thackeray. And as I said, I do not believe in his methods.
If ‘Rahul Raje’ is shot down outside Maharashtra and he is my relative, I will feel bad about it (as I mentioned in my post), but if the facts of the case are as they say, I cannot blame the police. If you fire 4-5 bullets, hijack a public transport vehicle, try to take 2 lives (the passenger and the conductor) and threaten to kill a public figure, there is a very good chance that you may be shot. it is a very dangerous thing to do, and police (Bihari or Mumbai) are legally correct in firing at a hijacker. As per reports, the police gave him a warning and requested him to surrender. I fail to see on what basis Lalu, Nitish Kumar or anybody can say with certainty that his life could have been easily saved. By the way, it was not an open bus top, it was a closed double decker bus. Of course the police tried to persuade him, as per the reports.
My problem is that it is being shown as if Mumbai police deliberately killed him because he was from Bihar. There is absolutely no data to say this.
Have you heard what issues Raj T has raised? Please understand that. Let me again say that I am NOT a Raj T supporter, but some of the issues raised are genuine issues. (signs in Marathi is a legal requirement in Mumbai and Maharashtra,railway exam papers being printed in Marathi seems a legitimate demand, the improbably low number of people from other states-including Maharashtra- in recent railway recruitment seems suspicious, politicians from UP and Bihar trying to set up a vote-bank in Maharashtra etc.)
And as for your invaluable advice asking Marathi people to grow up and work hard, if you just look at the industrial development figures, human development figures, cultural, sports or any other achievement, you will see that Maharashtra is leagues ahead of UP and Bihar. If you realize, it cannot happen without hard work and dedication and welcoming outside talent with open arms.
And just what do you mean by “be prepared to compete or be prepared to be eliminated one way or the other”? I have no reason to deal with your biases about Maharashtrians (such as their unwillingness to work hard and their low maturity levels), that is absolutely your problem. But if you threaten elimination, one way or the other, you are saying violence is OK. If that is so, why should Marathi youth not get violent?
I am just Common man making my living in another state than my home state.
I have simpathy with Rahul Raj’s family but few things are intriguing me.
1. Why rahul had to hijack bus if he had some nasty business with Raj Thakrey
2. If he is from common family how did he get hold of gun
3. If he did not kill even a bird how come he fired bullets indiscriminantly. One of which wounded bus passenger
4. How on earth his act is supported by politicians. Does that mean politicians in bihar support violence and violent acts.
5. What is more shocking is reading the comments on common web sites like sify. He had been already tagged a “martyr”. How is this possible in educated world?
6. Why Raj Thakrey is keeping mum on this? Why our proactive media channels is not qustioning Raj Tahkrey on this?
7. Media is giving the issue so much coverage that instead of buildng minds across states it is creating rift between them. Are we on the brink of civil war?
Media had given similar coverage, ofcourse unnecssary in Aarushi murder case.
Oh well great people thnx a lot to vipin, great round of applause to raman, hats off to nandan. this is where india is leading to…
v cnt stop fighting ourselves…cool…i really appreciate dat….
nw i tlkd abt spreading harmony, peace, a law abiding and prosperous nation and here when v cnt stop bickering which STATE in our country is more literate let us just stop talking and wait for the doom’s day….
India is OUR motherland…its not divided into any state or religion or god…i feel sad….i understand that u guys all are absolutely correct on ur parts and must have ur own logics for saying such things(not a sarcastic comment)…
Rahul Raj is a past now…he was just trying to reach Raj T sumhow….well dats wat i think….and the police shudn’t hav shot him…is wat i think once again…on the other hand Raj T is not absolutely wrong….although a major proportion of his logics and his doings is definately unfair….and the worst one of everything is kicking all northern people out of maharashtra…where will the film industry go then….
alrite we guys should act sensible rather than being provoked…u kno it pains to c India like this….it truly HURTS……
lets c wat u hav 2 say at this
bravo….nice post…i havent a clue abt it all, i think i need to rediscover epaper.indiatimes.com
imagine if the person he had shot died as a result?what then?does he still become a martyr,is he still a misunderstood hero?like nandan i do not agree with his methods at all,but many of the points raised by him are valid,because up and bihar are in the state that they are in,thousands of migrants pour into mumbai every day,and frankly mumbai cannot accomodate all these people,plus the fact is that majority of these migrants live in illegal settlements,parks,pavements,open spaces,govt owned land,airport land,even national parks have been illegally occupied by settlers,(this is also applies to high rises by builders),this has been taken a step further,when politicians do nothing to stop the flow,give these settlers legal protection,and make a sizable votebank,plus it is very hypocritical of laloo to call raj t parochial when his entire carreer was based on the fact that he carved up his electorate