‘Mumbai depends on the North Indian’

In the last week, taxis, shops and even Amitabh Bachchan’s house has been targeted. The battle between the locals and the North Indians has taken an ugly turn, but what happened in Mumbai could happen anywhere. Is the cosmopolitan image of India’s big cities being destroyed? This is discussed by a panel composed of Shirish Parker from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena; Sanjay Nirupam of the Congress; MN Singh, former police commissioner of Mumbai; Prasoon Joshi, lyricist and Kumar Ketkar, editor-in-chief of Loksatta. In the audience are political activists and eminent Mumbaikars. Shahid Siddique of the Samajwadi Party (which has been accused of triggering the recent violence) is also part of the discussion. Rajdeep Sardesai moderates

Rajdeep Sardesai: Isn’t it true that the MNS is using violence to gain political mileage?
 
Shirish Parker: To be blamed is the SP, its leaders Amar Singh and Abu Azmi and the media in general, especially the English media and the Hindi TV channels who have beamed the pictures of the violence. No agitation can continue for more than two days if it doesn’t have the support of the locals. To say that whatever is happening is because of the MNS is not correct. 
 
Shahid Siddique: It is not Abu Azmi who attacked Raj Thackeray. He did not attack the Maharashtrians. If he is holding a meeting, and is attacked and says that ‘If you attack us, we will take up the lathis’, we will blame him. He is not responsible for anything. 
 
Sanjay Nirupam: I must say that whatever the MNS has done, it is so that the Marathi vote bank breaks off from Shiv Sena and comes to them. How can you call it a political movement when there is no mass support?  They are beating up taxiwallahs and  shopkeepers on the roads, they are vandalising the slums — this is not ‘political movement’. If you have the courage, take it up politically, go to the people. In the name of politics, they are tarnishing the image of the country. They have already tarnished the image of Maharashtra. 
 
Parker: The problem that these people from UP and Bihar have is that they want a special economic zone for themselves in Mumbai. When they form a  ghetto, they will grab the land. It is government land. They want to do cultural dadagiri.
 
Prasoon Joshi: There is a popular sentiment against North Indians. The fact is that this city cannot claim to be where it is today just because of the local people. Look at Amitabh Bachchan. He came into the limelight when the film industry was going into a major recession. Suddenly, he revived the industry and so many people’s employment was linked with his success. Today you can’t say that this success, this city only belongs to a few.

RS: Mumbai has been built by a number of people cutting across communities. That is its greatness. Is this fictitious divide being created between Maharashtrians and non-Maharashtrians only for politics?
 
Kumar Ketkar: I am immensely worried by these developments because Mumbaikars, Maharashtrians, South Indians, North Indians, Parsis, Jains…everybody has lived together in this city, co-existed. People from all communities have been in every single business and they have been working either as customer or trader or industrialist or worker or mill worker or hotel worker.

This was all started in 1966 by the Shiv Sena, of which a small by-product is Raj Thackeray and the MNS. They were also responsible for the attacks on North Indians just four years ago.  The questions of North Indians vs Maharashtrians, South Indians vs Maharashtrians, Hindus vs Muslims, started after the birth of the Shiv Sena. 
 
MN Singh: It is not that the police is a bystander. In this case, going by the media reports, the police have arrested about 200 people. It seems that a few policemen were found not taking prompt action, but by and large the police force has responded well. Please don’t put the blame on the police. Mumbai’s police is considered to be one of the finest forces in India and the world. 

Bharat Dabholkar: I think the people who are legally and legitimately staying in Mumbai, whether they are Parsis, Gujaratis, UPiites, Biharis, Maharashtrians, are all Maharashtrians.  What is going wrong now is that Maharashtra is suddenly becoming like a mobile company where incoming is always free. Mumbai is an island. It does not have the infrastructure to take in more people. This kind of jostling for space is what gives rise to riots.
 
Meera Adharkar: Mumbai is a city of migrants. These were seven islands and no population except for the fisherfolk and toddy makers. Everyone — including the textile workers, the initial working class — is a migrant. Is the city capable of coping with migration? I speak in terms of infrastructure, housing, livelihood. Today after industries have closed down, there is no livelihood. It is more a class issue now.
 
Ketkar: I think the coping issue is infrastructural and cultural. As far  as infrastructure is concerned, Mumbai is under a tense situation, because the urban planners have failed, the government has failed. I think the great beauty in diversity is being destroyed.
 
RS: The real issue is the crisis of governance.

Parker: In the near future, we are going to take up the following issues: After 1992, all taxi and auto-rickshaw permits have been stopped. 
 
Sanjay Nirupam: The relationship between Maharasthra and North India goes back to Indian mythology. Lord Ganesha is the main deity for the Mahrashtrians, but his father is from Kashi. Even for Shivaji’s crowning ceremony, none of Marathi Brahmins were ready to conduct the rite. It was done by Gangabhat, from Kashi. The dhobis from UP came to this city 300 years back.  Mumbai still depends on these workers. Today there are at least 48 services provided only by North Indians. 
 
Singh: The non-Maharashtrian population in Mumbai city is far more than that of Maharashtrians. But the controversy sounds trivial, ridiculous and childish. To say that Amitabh Bachchan chooses to be the brand ambassador of UP and not Maharashtra, to say that a Bihari should not celebrate Chhat Puja here in Mumbai is highly immature. Even if Amitabh Bachchan had not acted in a Marathi film, it does not mean that he doesn’t have love and affection. If this is politics then this is gutter politics. Unnecessary controversies and aggressive statements by politicians are creating tension.
 
RS: Have the North Indians truly integrated into Maharashtra?
 
Ketkar: Eighty per cent of Marathi middle class parents are sending their children to English medium schools. Most Marathi schools are closing. That is not because of the North Indians, or South Indians, or Christians, Muslims, or anybody. Most of the Marathi theatres are not working. This is a city where there are no Marathi book stalls. 
 
RS: Should locals get preferential treatment?

(The panel is joined by Gauri Lankesh, journalist and activist from Bangalore.)

Gauri Lankesh: Most Kannadigas would not agree, but there is a faction — some local organisations like the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike have also hit out at Biharis for railway jobs and have tarred MLAs — that’s a fringe element.

Parker: Locals must get 80 per cent preferential treatment, not necessarily for the top job, but for middle-level or lower-level job.

Dabholkar: In the unskilled jobs and when they have no other place to go and work in, they should get preference.

Ketkar: Till 1960, all Marathwada, which was earlier a part of Nizamabad and which was also partly in Andhra Pradesh before AP was formed, were migrants to Mumbai. Telugu people died for creation of Andhra Pradesh and more than 20 Telugu and Kannada people died for the creation of Maharashtra. So who is a local? 

Nirupam: The medium-rung jobs in the Mantralaya cannot be given to the migrant population. That will happen only through recruitment. But people who have been living in the city for more than 15-20 years should be considered locals. 

Dabholkar: No matter what ideology, the common man shouldn’t be hurt.  A Maharashtrian is one who loves Maharashtra and has been here long enough to stay here legitimately.

Nirupam: I agree there are issues in Mumbai like infrastructure, roads and water. But the state contributes Rs 94,000 cr to the exchequer. I demand we get more money so that it could be used to make the lives of the common man better.

Ketkar: It’s always right to take pride in being Marathi or Tamil or Bihari. You must take pride in your culture. That doesn’t mean targeting others.

RS: The people of Mumbai have to speak up. This is a great city built by a spirit of assimilation both by migrants and non-migrants. Mumbai must survive because Mumbai must outlive any parochial politics. It should prove that it’s truly a city of dreams, a city of hope.