Sunday, November 30, 2003

Mee Mumbaikar.......Well lemme remind U that I'm an Indian first!

This disturbs me. The violence against biharis is shocking and totally uncalled for. For the uninitiated this is what happened. Shiv Sainiks of the political party Shiv Sena recently beat up the Biharis who had come to give the railway examinations. This is due to apparent frustration of the jobs in Mumbai being usurped by the so-called outsiders nee non-mumbai people. The violence first started in Assam. Again the biharis were the target. The assamese targeted them for appearing for some recruitment exam. The shiv sena followed suit then in mumbai. This is ridiculous. Their demand is something which I don't see being fulfilled. I agree Mumbai is bursting its seams. Its well tooooooooooooooooooooooooooo crowded. People from all parts of the country come here coz Mumbai provides with such kind of opportunities. U can't stop them from coming here. Goddammit this is India. Mumbai is not separate from India. One will find migration to all the metros coz metros offer job opportunities. Its just that comparatively more people come to Mumbai. Violence is just not the solution. People forget that migrants have contributed so much Mumbai's growth. Mumbai is a fabulous city, so cosmopolitan, so rich both culturally and economically. Events like this will spoil the whole party we having till now. Well......Ok, we have a problem here. But sit down and find out a solution. Discussions will definitely avail a solution. But this senseless violence is not a solution at all. Mumbai is the highest tax-paying city in India. (approximately 37% of the tax is paid by Mumbai ) Is it so difficult to exert pressure on the centre to have our demands met. It should be made clear that if Mumbai needs to grow, other cities in India also have to grow. Creation of cities is the need of the day. Ok.Ok......This can't be done in a day. It will sure take time. But these are long term solutions. But till that time, we have got to be patient. Such things cannot be done in a day.

According to me this is just an election gimmick. But don't forget that such gimmicks can create havoc in the country. Our country has just witnessed the tragedy at Gujarat. We don't want another one to happen again. Please think beyond politics, elections and power. People have been coming to mumbai since so many years. They have become an inherent part of Mumbai's social and cultural fabric. One can't just suddenly wake up one fine morning and start hating them, despising them. Is it so hard to regard everyone as Indians as against discriminating people on the basis of the language, like "U r a Maharashtrian, U r a tamilian" Bull shit! Everything has a good and bad thing attached to it. It comes like a package deal. If some migrants (not some, a large number) have contributed to the well-being of the city, there will exist a small miniscule portion of people who will cause harm too. One can't just forget the +ve work of all the people just because of certain stupid people. One cannot have the best of everything. In fact many of the so-called trouble makers are the sons of soil itself.

If one goes on to see, every major city in the world has seen migration. In fact USof A is a country of migrants. Look where it is today. Its the super power. Similarly Mumbai is numero uno as far its ranking amongst the metropolis in India is considered. A large portion of success should be attributed to the migrants who have enriched the city in every way.

Its high time certain problems are addressed in a proper, mature way to find solution and not in the stupid and insane acts like these.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Very well explained.. Thanks for sharing!!

images of Old Mumbai

Unknown said...

Good article..
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