Comments on: The Importance of Raj Thackeray

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:23:15 +0000

Why not blame the politicians from Bihar/UP who have created a perfect mess in their respective states forcing large number of people to flee their resources rich states in search of livelihood. These very politicians are now giving lectures on national integration(e.g. Lalus, Mulayams etc.) All the so-called outsiders speak Hindi or send their children (or are forced to)to local schools, why can’t the Hindi speaking people do the same when they go to non- Hindi states for work? This would remove much of the animosity between various linguistic groups in India. What Raj Thackeray is demanding in Maharashtra is not very different from what many states have been doing quietly for decades. Even though one may differ from his approach but the fact is that he has been gaining support as the locals have lost confidence in the state govt’s competance to protect their rights. General perception of the local politicians is that they are a bunch of self seeking sycophants serving their masters in Delhi.

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By: arunii

arunii — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:15:49 +0000

First bal thackery did it and now the raj thackery in mumbai. Only the people who think not for just their state but also for the country can save our homeland india. People should cast their vote against raj thackery type of people.

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By: Made in china

Made in china — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:21:07 +0000

Don’t see that happening. Indians all over the world-be it the US

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By: Akshay

Akshay — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:34:56 +0000

***”Raj Thackeray isn’t the only one who thinks the way he does. Obviously he has support from the people, or he wouldn’t get their votes into the assembly. And therein lies the problem.”

Yes. And it’s for a reason. Marathi speaking Maharashtrians are feeling resentful. Chetan Bhagat makes very interesting observations about the whole MNS fracas here.

***”Later, four of the 13 MNS MLAs including Kadam were suspended from the assembly for four years, a move that critics say should have been stricter in the form of an expulsion.”

Ya obviously, because the 4 constituencies they were elected from will go unrepresented in the Assembly for 4 years. Ultimately it’s the people of these constituencies who are going to suffer. Expulsion, and then by-elections in those constituencies would have been a lot more appropriate, IMO.

**”Aren’t we supposed to be one nation? Can Maharashtra live in isolation? Can any state live in isolation?”

Actually no, the constitution defines India as a Union of States. We’re one big continent knocked together as a nation.

***”Already, there is the much talked about north south divide, where the people from the southern states aren’t particularly fond of north indians, and the north Indians reciprocate the feeling through typecast terms and expressions. madrasi, anyone? ”

Well that sort of animosity is because of the insular attitude of a few Northies. And that in part is also the cause of the MNS’ rising popularity. See every state in India has a rich culture, and the attitude of Hindi-speaking people and their attempts to force Hindi down the throats of non-Hindi speakers didn’t go down too well. I wouldn’t generalize, but I’ve experienced it myself. Many North Indians tend to be insular, and tend to stereotype us all the time. “Madrasi”, “Darkies”,etc.

“Sid’s” comment puts it beautifully.

My father’s UP driver here in Navi Mumbai always refers to native Agris as “Ghatis”, a very derogatory term. I reprimand him, but he doesn’t listen. So yeah, Marathis should treat outsiders properly, but how about outsiders giving Marathis some respect as well?

Interestingly enough, my relatives in tamil nadu are becoming more “tolerant” towards Hindi, and it’s because of Bollywood! Pop culture has done what Indira Gandhi couldn’t!

***”People from UP will pull out of Maharashtra”
Don’t see that happening. Indians all over the world-be it the US, Canada,Australia -complain about racism, about missing India, and the “depraved” Western society. But we don’t see people returning in droves, do we?
Apply the same logic to North India(UP,Bihar) and Maharashtra. Better opportunities in Maharashtra, respect for talent, less corruption, etc.

Maharashtra itself isn’t getting any better, though.

***”Punjabis will start beating up people from Kerala. Tamils will beat up people from Orissa”

Lol, I don’t envision that kind of a scenario. People are too busy living their own lives, their own problems to worry about hating others. Even the MNS violence is only being perpetuated by a small fraction of the locals, who are by and large ignorant and a bit pissed off with Bhaiyyas. Such angry people are soft targets and get brainwashed by politicians like Thackeray into thinking it is outsiders who are the reason for their problems.

***”No wonder i dont even feel sympathetic to them. Morons voted morons to power and now they are getting it back with interest.”

Yeah, and such patronizing statements are so intelligent, eh?

It’s high time we stopped trying to be politically correct and tried to examine WHY such people get elected in the first place. But it’s much easier for us to call the voters a bunch of jingoistic pigs, isn’t it?

Like d’you really think these people are going to call off their stoning campaigns if we call them “morons”?

Like it or not, people feel inside. And it’s in the interests of all of us to try and examine the reasons why people resort to the brand of politics practised by ppl like Mayawati,or even Raj Thackeray FTM. It highlights certain miserable failures of the Union, and its citizens, things we’re too afraid to examine objectively, so it’s much easier to call the Naxals rabid islamists, BSP supporters low-IQ regressionists and MNS supporters “morons”.

(something I’d tried to explain in that Gandhiji post a few months back, which led to me being called a mad delinquent by some.)

Obviously the methods MNS wallahs use to fulfil their agenda are very condemnable, but Abu Azmi is no less a SOB than Thackeray. He’s the richest MLA in the assembly, yet his constituency is the most impoverished in the city, and it’s like the Garbage Capital of Mumbai. Power thefts, water thefts, polio, diarrhoea. You name it.

Shivaji Nagar has an overall HDI of less than 0.4! Pathetic state of affairs. So he deserved the slap if u ask me, just the timing wasn’t right

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By: Raj

Raj — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:51:55 +0000

Idiot! Its not Jai Maratha, Its Jai Maharashtra….get your facts right and your reading the newspaper and following the news abilities. Nobody here said outsiders are not welcome, the whole noice is about respect the local language and dont flaunt your ignorance of Marathi, which the anti social Abu Azmi did.

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By: Reema

Reema — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:14:34 +0000

The situation is going to deteriorate further and something very bad will happen one day..I tell u!

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By: amlistening

amlistening — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:41:43 +0000

I just saw a group on facebook with name ” I dont like/support Raj Thackaray Politics”…

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By: Elroy

Elroy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:47:05 +0000

I have never seen such kind of tactics employed in any civil society. Even in the UAE where I currently live all sorts of incentives are given to the local population to come up in life, irrespective of what Emirate they come from.

That’s how in the span of one generation so much has been achieved here, whereas we
with our rich ancient heritage and civilisation of 1000years plus are reverting back to the barbaric age.

Migration is a healthy issue; as long as it is in India.

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By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:02:20 +0000

‘All of India’s languages have equal status’. Its only north indians or Hindi-wallahs who think that only hindi is the national language when its not. India is a union which is multi-linguistic and multi-cultural. In short India was created when different countries having there own Kings merged to form what we call today India. British India was created by merging different countries Sikh Empire, Maratha Empire, Mugal empire, Bengal etc and modern day india after 1947 by merging independent countries like kashmir, nizam hyderabad, sikkim, tripura, junagadh etc. India is just like Europe different languages and cultures but one currency and this is recent.
If ur in maharashta, tamil nadu, uttar pradesh, assam or any state for more than 20 years and u want to be MLA and represent that state and u still dont want to learn there language then many are going to be angry. Azmi did it to get support of north indian community from his constituency bhiwandi who still believe they r in north india and MNS slapped him to get support from maharashtrians because many dislike the chauvinism of hindi-wallahs and the way them come and live in slums illegaly. North indians should develop there backward hindi states which will help Union of India grow which will reduce mass migration and all problems we see today instead of been bias and blaming people from west and south.

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By: ramesh

ramesh — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:10:03 +0000

if we had an indian onion one of their articles could be the uncovering of the terrible secret that raj in fact is chinese in disguise and that he reports directly to hu jintao

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