The past two weeks have been quite eventful for Mumbaikars. Raj Thackareys provocative statements and then his arrest and finally being let out on bail has been gripping the headlines.
Let me clear my view first: Biharis and UP people are welcome in Mumbai as long as they are ready to live here legally and not in slums and shantis. Sorry! Mumbai cant take any more slums. More than 50% of Mumbai population live in slums and any increase in this will simply mean that Mumbai is going to crumble. The government is as reluctant to act against these slums as it was in arresting Raj Thackarey. The only difference in Raj's case was that finally people saw action being taken against him and that is never going to happen against slums. Come elections in state again and the government will again increase the deadline of slums to 2005. The massive vote bank that is generated from slums is a major factor in this. Lets be frank, a major proportion of these slums are occupied by Biharis and UPites who come here in search of jobs. Especially the slums that were built after 1995(which was the earlier deadline for legalizing slums) have a lot of "Bhaiyas" living in them. These "Bhaiyas" are responsible to a major extent to the awful state of the city that you see today. They have no discipline, they don't care about cleanliness and they don't respect the people of this city (the legal ones). Let me again tell you, I am no ways against any kind of people living in Mumbai legally. YOU ARE WELCOME. Why does no one have a problem against any gujurati or tamil person living here. The answer is the live here legally and respect the city. Every slum in this city has a UTTAR PRADESHIYA SEVA SANG. I don't understand the reason as to why we need a SEVA SANG (that too from UTTAR PRADESH) here in Mumbai. And moreover these SEVA SANG's are sponsored by political parties from UTTAR PRADESH. Wasn't Raj Thackarey right when he was against politics being played here on the cost of the city. The Maharashtra government was keen to make Mumbai slumfree when it was elected in 2003 but then the centre was more intrested in votebank politics. For the first time in India the opposition was supporting the ruling party in any state. If the Bihari politicians say that India is one and there should be no discrimination based on language, why were there reactions like "I'll give sticks to north Indians."
Well, as I write this article, thousands of people in Bihar are thinking of coming to Mumbai at this very moment. I don't want to blame these people because its the system that has failed in Bihar and not the common man. A person who doesn't even get money to fulfill his basic necessities like food clothing and shelter atleast gets all these three back here in Mumbai. No person in Mumbai dies of hunger. You eventually get some work and earn to have a meal at least once a day. The question is how many such people can Mumbai support. My answer is not many. A good solution to this problem is create a Mumbai in Bihar or rather every state of India. We have the workforce and the potential to do that. After that everyone will be proud to say "ME MUMBAIKAR" or we can have a new slogan "HUM MUMBAIKAR" When politicians from other states justify their state people presence in Mumbai they are accepting that their state has failed in every respect. There can be no other loss than having to leave your state in search of livelihood. That shows that the state has been a major failure.
I support Raj Thackeray's stand but don't support his techniques. Violence is not the way to sort an issue. We have room for discussion . the constitution in India is old and we need to change it to a small extent. Again the constitution doesn't endorse slums but the politicians cant see that they can only see Raj's statement being against constitution. Instead of giving their views on Raj's statement, why don't they concentrate on issues in their state?
i proudly say "ME MUMBAIKAR" and let all people living in Mumbai legally say the same!!!!!
6 comments:
Harshad...your point is absolutely true..that the outsiders have a right of movement only if they are legally doing it.If you don't help the city, why stay in the city?
But i believe that the measures taken by Thackeray also were'nt right..he cannot absolutely take power in his hands.His campaign also was very baseless and weak...
good post, although i must say you've played safe by sitting on the fence. i, on the other hand, have taken a far less 'politically correct' stance on this. the spirit of your blogpost seems to indicate you, like a lot of us mumbaikars, consider raj thackerey a saviour of sorts whilst questioning his techniques. let me inform you this raj thackerey is no 'doodh ka dhulaa', as the bhaiyas would put it. he is clearly, clearly playing vote bank politics. correct me if i am wrong! also, blaming only the bhaiyas for unkempt behaviour is wrong. a lot of people from other states, including this one, also stay in the slums and are an equally big problem.
@ siddharth
well.....i know that raj thackarey is playing vote bank politics and i am also aware that many people from maharashtra are also living in slums here in mumbai...but biharis hav been instrumental 4 the aweful state of mumbai that is today. i am against any kind of slum dwellers be it biharis or be it maharashtrians...my target was biharis because of the recent so called "north indians vs marathi" fight.
i do agree with your views to some extent,but wat i strongly oppose are raj thakareys techniques..he proudly says hes a maharashtrian wanting d good of mumbaikars..but actually he is the only one runining mumbai with those riots..thats a very wrong way to say things. he doesnt have any right to destroy public property like this...and that for me is too much to take..so for now i dont stand by raj thakerey thou i m myself a hard core maharashtrian..because for now,as a mumbaikar,my immediate reaction is fear and anger towards MNS.
oh gosh!!! guys get ur facts right...alteast before publishing it...u arent discussin it personally..dis is public...and net has crossed the line of givin liberty to a common man to state feelings and assumptions as facts...i hope we wont do dis...i agree perception is reality (a lot of ppl perceive slum dwellers must be biharis..so dat should be the reality right) but how often ir reality factually right?? my point out here is biharis are not the max slum dwellers...its d andharits...biharis may be the max ppl 2 cross the border and stay here...but slumdwellers are andhariths..max..
and plz...refer them as north indians..biharis...whteve..but not as bahiyas...dats such a value loaded word..may hurt sentiments..its equivalent 2 refering maharashtrains as ghatis..
bdw..bdw..remove those slum dwellers..and seee how lifes in a mess in mumbai...ur taxi service...ur constuction work...ur rikshaw service...ur household chorus (sry sry) our taxi service...our construction work our riskhaw serivce..our house hold chorus will collapse..think abt it...
from siddharth's nd ranjit's comments, i do agree i was wrong in criticizing biharis and saying dat dey are slum dwellers nd blah blah...but m fed up of their nuisance, u are living in mumbai, respect the people here (they dont even do that, rite now i am short of time to reply on this topic, ill do that later!
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