One word is too often profaned... For Australian cricketers, in general, and Andrew Symonds, in particular, it is ‘monkey’. For the North Indians in Mumbai, it is ‘bhaiyya’.
North Indian leaders want the ‘derogatory’ word to be banned One word is too often profaned... For Australian cricketers, in general, and Andrew Symonds, in particular, it is ‘monkey’. For the North Indians in Mumbai, it is ‘bhaiyya’.
Members of the Uttar Bharatiya Forum, led by Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, called on chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday, urging him to ban the word ‘bhaiyya’ in Mumbai.
Easier said than done! According to some officials in the chief minister’s office, Deshmukh is in a quandary. The word ‘bhaiyya’, used fondly, means brother in Hindi. So, whatever decision the chief minister takes in this regard might boome-rang on the government.
The list of such “derogatory” words runs long. One community taunting another is a common practice all over India. The North Indians call Maharashtrians ‘ghattis’. The minorities are referred to as ‘miyas’. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray often used to refer to the minorities as ‘La***a’.
Nirupam told DNA, “Migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar feel humiliated when the locals call them ‘bhaiyyas’. I have urged the CM to consider banning the word. It should be put on the list of derogatory words.”
Nirupam’s proposal was shot down by his party colleague. Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief Gurudas Kamat said, “Throughout the Hindi belt, sisters call their brothers bhaiyyas. How can we ban such a word?”
The chief minister, too, was reportedly of the opinion that it would be incorrect to ban the word. “Taking such a step would make it marz se dava bhari (administering medicine is more difficult than attending the patient),” he reportedly told some close aides.
A senior Congress MP cited famous rakshabandhan songs, which have used the word.
Samajwadi Party MP Abu Azmi said, “It is fact that North Indians in Mumbai are not fondly called bhaiyyas. The word is used in a derogatory manner.”
Hussain Dalwai of Congress would not agree. “Every region has its own teasers. But those are not always caustic. In private conversation, people from Konkan often refer to Chitpavans as British.”
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