The overcooked chickens of divisive politics are coming home to roost on the streets of Bombay for the cooks, chefs and cleaners who were dishing it out for decades.
As Bal Thackeray‘s Shiv Sena mounts a “Mumbai for Maharashtrians” campaign, as Raj Thackeray says jobs should only be given to those who were born in that State”, urbs prima in Indus is being kickedwhere it hurts by those acting in the name of its sons and daughters, fathers and mothers.
With the Bihar elections around the corner, the “cultural organisation” RSS suddenly wakes up and says its cadres have been instructed to “protect” Hindi-speaking north Indians in Bombay. The RSS’ new sarsangchalak Mohan Bhagwat twirls his moustache to say “language, caste, sub-castes, groups, tribes can be different but all are sons of India”, hoping that nobody notices that he deftly, deviously left “religion” out of his list.
Suddenly, the new BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, whose party has been in bed with the Shiv Sena for nearly two decades, says he will speak to the RSS and make a statement. And then, because the Bihar elections (where the party is in bed with the JD(U)) are around the corner, finds the strength to say “the strength of India’s unity in diversity is achieved only when all identities converge into a larger national identity of Indianness”.
Meanwhile, the Congress whose chief minister Ashok Chavan statement on the domicile status of taxi drivers kicked off the latest round of pathetic parochialism, finds some voice. Home minister P. Chidambaram calls “Mumbai for Maharashtrians” a pernicious theory. Rahul Gandhi declares India is for Indians.
But ponder this: if the three biggest icons of Indian industry, sport and cinema—Mukesh Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan—aren’t safe from the provincial parasites pillaging into the carcass of a once-great cosmopolis, can a poor pani puri seller from Patna (or Chennapatna) be?
Cartoons: courtesy Prasad Radhakrishnan/ Mail Today and E.P. Unny/ The Indian Express
Also read: CHURUMURI POLL: Free to work anywhere?
Is the Indian Republic, at 60, crumbling?
Tags: Bal Thackeray, BJP, Bombay, Churumuri, E.P. Unny, Mail Today, MNS, Mohan Bhagwat, Mukesh Ambani, Mumbai for Maharashtrians, Nitin Gadkari, Prasad Radhakrishnan, Raj Thackeray, RSS, Sachin Tendulkar, sangh parivar, Sans Serif, Shah Rukh Khan, Shiv Sena, The Indian Express
2 February 2010 at 4:04 pm
once a great cosmopolis – i wonder if writer knows anything about space and populations of slums of mumbai!!
seeing the sequence of events it’s just a election gimmick.
Ashok (pawn) chavan starts it all – why on earth did he need to start the domicile issue.
Ashok chavan – domicile – taxi permit
Sena – only marathi speakers
chavan – u turn – marathi + hindi + gujarati ( only aryan whitish ones )
sena – only marathi manus
joshi – all indians
now safe to ignite
chidu silent on ipl .gives no information to modi.
modi – no one should take pakis
chidu – u turn will give visa to everyone
sena smells someone is deciding without their approval
sena – will not allow pakis
sena – will not allow aussies (hmm. they are supporting northies now!!! )
right time to enter
congress – clever; hey bjp, can you leave sena?
bjp – hey ram!
stage is set for bihar elections propaganda.
congress – happy that they have indian issue to bat now.
with mms and sonia silence they have achieved what they wanted to.
rahul – 26/11 martyrs were from north.
india belongs to all indians but we will bring change in bihar ( isn’t that what people were saying to change and learn local lingos!! )
joshi – now getting some gyaan; rahul should learn and speak.
amar+jayabachchan + dutt + jayaprada towards bsp
mulayam says amar was capitalist –
mulayam + lalloo again for farmer’s union; gowda happy.
now bihar has become a strategy place -ambani wants to develop it – wants congress in power. ropes in shahrukh, aamir, bachan in some or other way – who can make news else bollywood won’t be financed
unknowingly ‘indian’ sachin falls into trap .
manmohan is getting old – mummy is still italian – priyanka is young- no other leaders – rahul needs to urgently gain power.
the marathi maanus( see even there they become manoos) are again and again becoming their pawns.
rahul even hints 2011 vision of up and tn elections. so he wants clean sweep of north india and southmost india. we can even see him tying up with devegowda + siddaramaiah if bjp breaks here who are into homa havana.
Isn’t this kid of rajiv growing up to be next historic blunder – North DeveGowda?
but it’s hard to digest generalized usage of phrase “provincial parasites” by churumuri as if national ones have proved gods with 40+ years of existence!!
without a single article on magna price rise of everyday togari bele or even ingredients of churumuri!
now the question that MNS can ask is
Is Rahul an Indian to speak about Indians?? he is still italian citizen according to shourie- most powerful columnist.
2 February 2010 at 5:27 pm
haha! c’mon dear churumuri, i had thought even you’d be pleased by bhagwat’s statement — but here you are, calling it “devious.” how about taking the prophet lenses off for a second!
2 February 2010 at 5:28 pm
I must disagree here.
The RSS has taken the most principled stand of the lot. Rahul Gandhi’s and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s (and possibly the BJP’s) stand is tainted by appeals to Biharis specifically, but the RSS position, pitching at the level of the nation, is actually more principled. I notice of course the deliberate (?) exclusion of the phrase “religion” but by coming out and saying that all Indians, everywhere are free to move about and work wherever they want to, the RSS is not just pandering to electioneering tendencies.
I hope the RSS is serious about protecting North Indians in Mumbai and would love to see Sena v RSS street fights over this…
Provincial parasites will be everywhere and they have finally shown why they deserve no respect from anyone.
2 February 2010 at 7:01 pm
I don’t know why Sena wants to ban Aussies!! They are afterall hitting Northies and southies more than Marathi Manoos!! ;-)
Wonder what Shivsena and MNS has to say about Gadkari’s master stroke – If Maharastra is for Marathi’s only, then do they want to extend Article 370 and give autonomy (or freedom) to Kashmir too?
2 February 2010 at 7:03 pm
Alok:
>The RSS has taken the most principled stand of the lot.
I concur. I don’t like RSS when it focuses on Muslim bashing and Temple issue, but it is an amazing organization when it focuses on national unity, helping the weak and disaster management.
This is one of the reasons I feel RSS should guide BJP out of its current morass. We badly need a principled and strong opposition.
2 February 2010 at 7:26 pm
Mumbai is a slum. Politicians from Maharashtra have destroyed the city. Carve out Mumbai (include Navi Mumbai & Thane in this) from Maharashtra and make it a union territory or a state.
Otherwise shift the state capital to Sangli,Satara, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri……
2 February 2010 at 8:23 pm
Looks like churumuri didnt take kindly to being pwned by RSS. Mohan Bhagwat + Gadkari combo seems to have gotten off to a good start :)
At the end of the day its a nobrainer really… simple math was all that was required for RSS+BJP folks to toe this line. If these people keep this up, madam needs to do more than ‘do nothing’ to retain power.
2 February 2010 at 9:57 pm
people who love regional languages in india should be careful about RSS. right from its inception RSS has been hell bent on destroying the linguistic diversity of india. they want one nation,one culture,one language.
if RSS continues its tirade againgst kannada,marathi,assamese ,dogri etc ,they will be routed out of the country.
where were these RSS people when lakhs and lakhs of people left homeless in northern karnataka floods, when farmers in vidharba were committing suicide ,are they not indians.
is knowing hindi only way to show that i am an indian,what bull crap.
RSS LATHI WIELDING ,HINDI FIED wallahs should learn to respect rich linguistic cultural tradition of india.
KANNADA IS MY SOUL,INDIA MY HEART should be the way forward.
3 February 2010 at 1:39 am
While I agree that the poor panipuri seller is not safe anywhere- Bombay or Bihar or Bangalore ( rural ) district, I fail to undertstand this surmise that Mssrs M Ambani, SR Tendulkar, SR Khan et al are also not ‘safe’. I though it was only silly loudmouthed ‘ icons’ getting it back from other silly ‘loudermouthed’ people.
If all that the RSS did was realpolitiking how does it become a ‘principled’ stand- and most compared to whom?
I am going back to my gin and tonic.
3 February 2010 at 5:42 am
Agree with Alok. Well said.
It’s time someone stood up to Sena and if that happens to be RSS why not ? I think RSS when it leaves our religion can be good…
3 February 2010 at 6:17 am
KH,
See it the other way around:
Shiv Sena will support the marathis while RSS will side with the biharis and bhaiyyas and in the process show themselves as the cheap thugs which they are. Something must have gone wrong with the manipulation by caste/language this time. Looks like the next chapter of buffoonry from the cheddis.
At this rate Sonia, Rahul, MMS, Chidambaram et. al. need not do anything. They can concentrate on elections and let the cheddis pull each others cheddi down, fragmenting their vote base further.
3 February 2010 at 12:30 pm
That’s a courageous stand taken by RSS and I wouldn’t mind even if it’s done with the cold calculations centred around upcoming elections in Bihar and then subsequently in Hindi heartland. There is nothing wrong in cultivating constituencies if the larger objective is a good one.
But I hope they would go easy on their unitarian concept of India is a monolith of Hindi-Hindu. India is too diverse a country to conform to any narrow definition of nation. All languages in India are equally important and we shouldn’t get carried away by the ‘Hindi is the only national language’ rhetoric of Hindi speaking populace.
It serves all these various Senas right. They are nothing but a bunch of hooligans who simply can’t handle a debate or a discussion without resorting to violence. One can always take up issues of local importance and articulate and give vent to it in a civilized way. But such civility is entirely lost on these myriad senas, vedikes etc.
3 February 2010 at 1:22 pm
Shanghai signboards call for Chinese
A regulation will soon be introduced in Shanghai requiring all foreign commercial signboards to be also written in Chinese.
Walk along the city’s Huaihai Road and you are confronted by such names as “Zara”, “Deli France”, “Starbucks” and many others. Even the nearby bar area of Xintiandi has a proliferation of foreign names.
“The all-English signboards are catering to a false admiration for anything Western. Some people tend to think it’s a high-end shop if the name is written in a foreign language,” said Huang Anjing, an editor of a local monthly journal, Yaowen Jiaozi, which intends to promote correct use of the Chinese language.
“I would say it’s understandable, as Shanghai is very cosmopolitan, very international, but still, it does not seem proper.
“We are in China, and the Chinese language should be used in public places,” Yaowen said.
“You find new estate projects named ‘Venice Sunshine’ or ‘Thames Town’. You would think you were living in a foreign country, I don’t think this is good.”
However, others seem to differ.
“Most of our customers are regulars, and most are foreign,” said a staff member at O’Malley’s, an Irish pub in Shanghai. “We have used the English name for many years. It has never been a problem.”
Many young people, in reply to a message on the online bulletin board, said foreign language signboards do not bother them.
However, some give rise to unintentional jokes because of the misuse of the language. A signboard on a Nanjing Road shop reads: “Like a Blackman Dancer”. It sells hip-hop style clothing. Another says: “I Sell Bags!!!”
To cater to Chinese customers, some shops are starting to use Chinese on their signboards.
“We put a Chinese sounding translation of our name on the signboard,” the manager of Barbarossa, surnamed Zhang, said. The Moroccan-style bar and lounge used to be patronized only by foreigners, but it now attracts more Chinese customers.
“We think it would be unfair to our Chinese customers if our signboard was only in English,” Zhang said.
A new regulation is being studied by the city’s food and beverage industry, together with the Shanghai Normal University, requiring all foreign signboards to have Chinese names, according to Shanghai Morning Post.
All critics of Marathi/Kannada signboards rule-please read the above and comment!
3 February 2010 at 3:47 pm
@AP
“India is too diverse a country to conform to any narrow definition of nation”
??????
Yantha suddi yeedu, Republic of India is not a nation!!!
3 February 2010 at 4:47 pm
http://laughingsquid.com/san-franciscos-answer-to-westboro-baptist-church/
Why can’t we do similar thing to Shiv Sena?
Oh Yes, they won’t peaceful and carrying signs. :(
3 February 2010 at 5:05 pm
@Dailybread
The classical definition of nations, applied by Europeans results in the mass genocide and slaughter in two World Wars and countless colonial slaughters. Which is why Anshuman is right when he said India does not fit a “narrow” definition of nation.
The definition of nation according to India and the Indian constitution is a broad one which recognizes that what makes us a nation is not superficial similarity but but a common desire to govern ourselves according to the principles we see fit; where what makes you an Indian is not the colour of your skin or your religion or your “mother tongue” but your willingness to overlook all of this in working towards a common goal.
Which is why it is ok to say I am a Kannadiga and an Indian, as long as you are willing to recognize that one can be both anywhere in any part of the country and have no problems when another says I am Marathi/Bihari/Bengali and an Indian.
3 February 2010 at 5:12 pm
@DailyBread
:) Sorry..my bad! I merely meant narrow definition. Hope you got the drift.
3 February 2010 at 7:51 pm
@Alok
Thanks a ton..I couldn’t have articulated it any better! Yes, the operative word was ‘narrow’.
3 February 2010 at 8:20 pm
Alok:
>but your willingness to overlook all of this in working towards a common goal.
Bravo… Brilliantly put..
3 February 2010 at 8:35 pm
@Gaby – The point you make is very valid. In fact, I would go ahead and say that the question should be the other way around. If a poor pani puri seller or schoolchildren are not safe, why should these so called ‘icons’ feel any safer. If anything, their fears and the security they require would be multiplied hundred fold. By asking this question, is there a suggestion that security, law and order are only meant for the rich and famous?
3 February 2010 at 10:53 pm
AG,
All of them are thugs, some are saffron thugs while others are madams thugs. BJP+RSS has calculated that MH is a lost cause. Without sena they cant do much in MH and with it they lose out big time in other places. They sense an opening in UP and want to get back on the scorecard in Bihar, to keep Nitish in the family. IMO they seem to be on the right track.
BTW SRK getting into the mix at the same time, seems like a very desperate propaganda move on his part. Looks like the ‘moment of clarity’ has occured to him and he feels even his most loyal fans may reject his latest crap. One of his bollywood chachas was pleading on CNN-IBN, ‘ go watch My name is Khan and show your patriotism’ :)
5 February 2010 at 10:35 am
@ AP, Alok & Harkol,
Broad or narrow, we should define and stick to the definition of “one nation”. The slippery slope of “anyway, we are not a nation in classical sense” will only help folks who are interested in further division (Chinese & Google’s cartographers are already doing this) of India.
6 February 2010 at 8:25 am
KH,
I would rather watch a bollywood movie like My Name is Khan than look at the faces of the ugly RSS and Shiv Sena leaders spewing hate porn to entertain their repressed followers :)
6 February 2010 at 5:07 pm
DailyBread:
We are “one nation” except we are forged in a non-classical way. ;-)
9 February 2010 at 3:46 pm
Harkol Sir,
Here is my request, please do not leave any scope for people to challenge the way we are forged together. Internal insurgencies (these can be resolved democratically) and external forces(Kashmir is defendable, how will you save Arunachal Pradesh) will always be happy to use the excuse of non-classical thin edge of the proverbial wedge.
Unity in diversity is a great idea, and this idea is very easy to defend. What happens when people use this idea to make territorial claims? You Sir know the price nation paid in Punjab and you also know the costs involved in Kashmir.
9 February 2010 at 11:41 pm
DailyBread:
By not stating an obvious fact, we can’t close the gaps. If so, then we’ll be supporting people who rewrite history.
I understand you concern, but I think we’ll be a stronger nation if we reconcile with our history, instead of hiding from it.
Think of an analogy – USA was founded by a bunch of revolutionaries in 1787. At that time it had only couple of states (as versus current 50).
Here is the historical accession map of various states of USA: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/territory.jpg
USA too was forged in a non-classic way (with people of different culture coming together), and it took them more than 100years to get to current shape. They went thru a civil war some 100 years after independence. They fought it, they have reconciled with it and have emerged strong.
So can we…
10 February 2010 at 11:32 am
Harkol,
In 1947 with our best & brightest set of men (& women) handling our affairs, we were not able (or not willing) to define “one nation” (partition).
More power to your elbow. I am sure Mcdonaldisation(homogenization) of the country in cuisine, dress & language will be done by automobile, communication systems, Internet, MSM & Hollywood, etc. ;)
10 February 2010 at 6:47 pm
@DailyBread
->’I am sure Mcdonaldisation(homogenization) of the country in cuisine, dress & language will be done by automobile, communication systems, Internet, MSM & Hollywood, etc. ;)’
:) I would much rather Constitution of India do that job – not the ‘homogenisation’(I doubt if it’s such a good idea) part but acting as the common glue that binds us together. Infact it is the one that defines our ‘nation’ and was/is expected to forge the common destiny. This is the contract we all Indians are supposed to have signed and abide by as the citizens of this nation. I think it has a pretty strong definition of what kind of a nation we are or ought to be. It’s just that we as it’s adherents are still trapped in our various identities of religion, caste, language, region etc.
You have a valid point on partition. Is it possible that it was an undesired side-effect of a strict definition of a Nation-state as it was understood at that time? Look at it this way (Infact Jaswant Singh hints at this in his book on Jinnah). Could it be that a significant portion of our population at that point were skeptical about ‘one nation’ theory (based on the prevalent European model of Nation-State)? Would it be that they were afraid it would eventually lead to Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan paradigm as in the case of a classical nation-state? If that’s indeed the case, yes certainly it was the failure of the leaders of that time to convince that set of dissenters. But then we have little appreciation of those turbulent times removed that we are by more than 60 years, aren’t we?
16 February 2010 at 8:50 am
what you are trying to say is india is one single country. it is very true. but india is not, was not and will not be a nation. forget it. i think if three language policy is moved to two language policy then it can be done. english as a common language and any regional language of the region. this way we can raise the literacy rate too. migration by workers will also be checked. all local business should be enforced local language for that matter. since all regions of land are equally talented. natural resources must be a property of government of india. exams should replace vote system. and government of india must be governed by UN. since we will not respect regional culture of people.