The last post which I wrote got a stunning comment. That I really need to share with my readers. So here it is:
Quite frankly the Maharashtrian people are feeling alienated from the rest of India like never before. Many are beginning to question the wisdom of remaining a part of India. The concept of one country works as long as people feel they have a common future and benefit from it. If these issues are not addressed sensitively and if interestes of Maharashtrian people are ignored at the cost of others, there is likelyhood that you will see a situation like in Kashmir, Khalistan and North East. If Raj is being seen as the new Bhindranwale then Indians need to understand and address the causes so that we do not have a new Khalistan. The only difference is even at the height of Khalistan problem I did not see the Sikh community being insulted and labelled like the way Maharashtrians have been in the last one year.
This was the comment of Mr. Harshal ( I dont know the full name) and I really consider it to be full of feeling and reality and thats the sole reason why I want to share this with my readers!
The basic issue is socio-economic. Caused by mass scale and uncontrolled migration of unskilled or skilled labor from one place to another. Migrants will always take jobs from locals simply because they will work for less, live in temporary or shared shanties and work 24 hours. Their costs in their hometowns are much lower than in urban cities. This is exactly what needs to be addressed. Average Maharashtrian cannot afford to work for less because he stays with his family and sends kids to school and pays for higher costs in Maharahstra. It is simply not true that the North Indian workers are getting jobs because they are better, what is true is they are willing to work for much less and much longer because essentially things are much worse where they come from.
Maharahstra has been highly industrialised for decades because the locals have always been disciplined, skilled and highly dedicated workers. To ignore this fact and say they are not good enough and cannot compete is insulting to Maharashtrians.
Some pople are quick to compare the situation with migrants in the USA, convenienty forgetting that any visa based migration is basically a controlled one and aimed at filling the vacancies. What is happening is Maharashtra is simply unacceptable to Maharashtrians.
To simply view the violent situation from a law and order or communal point of view is ridiculous. These are just the symptoms.
Let there be no mistaking the fact that an average Maharashtrian does not care whether Jaya Bhaduri can speak Marathi or not. They are also not bothered whether the shop signs are in English or Marathi or Hindi. This has been one state where people speak Hindi to outsiders on their own. People who have lived here long enough would know this very well. They are more concerned about losing their incomes and about not being able to keep their kids in schools. They are being driven into a corner and into an impossible situation which threatens their livelihood.
People in Maharahstra are not communal, if they were then Shiv Sena would have ruled for more than 5 years out of 60 years post-independence. But the anger and frustration in Maharahstra is rising as they are being equated en-masse with MNS and labelled as, good-for-nothing, fascists and making un-fair demands. Their contribution to Mumbai is being rubbished with typical Indian arrogance. Gun toting mad men are being hailed as martyrs. Leaders in the North are ganging up and talking of punishing Maharahstra. The national media has resorted to a completely one sided reporting dictated by commercial compulsions. the entire country in general is up against Maharashtra.