This time Diwali bought some mixed feelings to me. Of course, I was at Kolkata for Diwali after a long long time, and managed to light some diyas and burst some crackers at Kolkata, but a few incidents here and there put me in a rather thought full mode.
No. 1 was of course the killing of Rahul Raj and the shameless face of Raj Thakrey. I wouldn’t consider Raj Thakrey to be any kind of a political leader or any body for that matter, and I know he and his party is up to some mindless trick with the local people on issues that are non existent. However, given the fact, it has managed to trigger reactions from otherwise quite studious young men like Rahul Raj, who unnecessarily gave his life in the whole drama.
I have a few questions bothering me on this. Why did the Mumbai Police deploy such a big force against a “threatening” “criminal” who was scaring people with a country made pistol? The same police has so far, watched mutely, the beatings inflicted upon the poor “bhaiyas” by the MNS goons. Yes, of course there is more to this than meets the eye.
I was coming back to my home from my parent’s house the day after the diwali. Near my house, in a very modest neighborhood, there were these young slum dwellers who had organized a Kali Puja in their locality. Being lived in Chennai for 4 years, I was absolutely taken aback, when I heard the song “Appri pode” being played in the loudspeaker. “That’s a Tamil song!” I pointed out to my mother who was also with me. “So what?” she looked surprised…
I thought hard on this. For my mother who comes from an educated, liberal Bengali family, thinking like this was not surprising - we have grown up in such environment where every one is accepted at their own merit. But, for those who seem to have never gone to school, playing a Tamil song for one of their most important festivals, was surely something to think about.
In one of my earlier posts I had expressed my desire to import Mr. Raj Thakrey to Cuba. This time I think, I would like to invite him home.
10 comments:
There are a few problems with your theory. I dont think a young man taking people as hostage on gun point can be classified as a studious and quiet young man. I dont know about his pat but he commited a crime and police took action. Secondly, I think the real problem lies beyond what Lalloo and Raj can percieve. In general I support you in your distress and anger over Raj Thakrey. I am myself extremely pained to see what is happening in Mumbai and the way it is happening. But I am not surperised at all on the entire course of events. There are strong economic, social and political reasons behind the support that Raj is able to find in the people involved with him. Urbanisation was a problem of the past. Today we have a problem of Urban Explosion - how much can one city take? Every time if a city complains about migrant population, why do we have to look at that complaint with hate and anger. I dont agree to Raj's method but if you look beyond the obvious then you will see that there are complelling economic problems that are driving this unrest. Raj is just using this to his political advantage. We need to rise above the kinds of Raj and Laloo - they are both in the same class of idiotic leaders - and analyse as to what lies under the carpet and from where is the frustration rising. Forget Marathi or Maharashtra, a genuine North Indian living in Mumbai for last 20 years will tell you how much menace are the new migrants. This city has had enough of migrants - cant take more. Same with Delhi and hasnt Sheela Dikshit complaint about this already?
You are right. I have talked about this in one of my earlier posts called - India and its not shining. May be u shd have a look. And thanks for the comment
Also, the problem in Maharastra and that of Raj Thakrey is that they are creating a bigger problem instead of finding a solution to the problem of urban explosion. A place/city/country can only prosper when diversity is accepted, because singularity may not be the way to reach the top. However, the failure of the government initiative, in expanding Mumbai limit, keeping it free of litters, and the lack of a proactive vision for longer time in future, cannot be used against poor people who have come here to earn a living. By the way, I m not sure if any Marathi Manush will be willing to clean the public toilets or work at the dhobi ghat. Marathis and Bengalees are quite similar in that way.
There may be a question of identities involved, and underlying insecurities. When people tend to identify with linguistic/ ethnic groups, it's usually at the cost of reason (common sense?). But why they do it needs deeper insight, as somewhat brought out by mkhirwadkar. Politics has always been and will remain an integral part of society, but must be played in all fairness (my hand ends where your nose begins!) discussing Raj may be just what he and MNS needs, ignoring him in the course of rational behavior may be a partial solution!!
@mkhirwadkar...sir,your point is absolutely valid and i dun even deny to the the blogger's points...
Thing is if indian politicians channelize their powers in a productive way they can come up with a solution for urban explosion rather than ending up in communal tension.
The basic reason for the explosion is lack of job oppurtunities in tier-2 and tier-3 cities compared to mumbai and delhi in India. Since childhood we are told that those are big cities. Why cant a Bhopal or Bhubaneswar or a Jamshedpur become so called 'Big'.OK not as big as mumbai but atleast have enough job oppurtunities to attract crowd.As long as incidents like 'SINGUR-NANO plant case' keep happening we can just be meagre spectators.
I dont see the point in discussing an idea and then leaving it midway. Maybe this blogspot could be communicated to Raj Thackarey for his information and views?!!
Should the common man pay to protect Raj Thakrey and his ilk with Z class security ? Shouldn't all taxpayer paid security to all the Thakreys be withdrawn?
hi dosto mai pravin i have raj thaker home or office address pls any body know then send on my e-mail id ppintu83@rediffmail.com
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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