Inclusive politics will help people realise their dreams

Mumbai has been built on the hard labour of locals and the poor/ lower-middle class migrants who assimilate well into the rich cultural milieu of Maharashtra. The non-local face of Mumbai dominates the Mumbai story as beamed elsewhere by the elite ‘only Indian’ intermediaries. By stressing on the identity of being a Bombayite as opposed to being a Maharashtrian (a resident of Maharashtra, which all residents of Mumbai are), they undervalue the legacy of the Samyukta Maharastra Andolan. Those shot down in 1960 by Congress Chief Minister Morarji Desai’s police at today’s Hutatma Chowk were proud Maharashtrians and not ‘only Indian’ cosmopolitan Bombayites. Mumbai must be a rare place where rich parasites look at hosts with such contempt. The ‘I prefer to call it Bombay’ crowd gets their comeuppance only where their false-representation game is replaced by numerical representation contests at the BMC elections. Here Mumbai rules. The contempt of Bombay for Mumbai gets a regular reality check.

Successive ‘national party’ regimes at the Centre have been dealing devastating blows to the Indian Union’s federal structure with spineless state-units of ‘national parties’ selling their state to Delhi. Any party that claims to represent the Marathi manoos must fight for state rights. In this regard, MNS’s Raj Thackeray has included ‘autonomy for Maharashtra’ in running its own affairs, including internal railways, in his party blueprint. The roadmap to autonomy for states in the Indian Union doesn’t lie in picking stand alone issues like railways. If MNS is serious, it should demand the transfer of various items from the concurrent and Union list to the state list. This has to include expanded powers of the state to directly extract revenue from its own natural, commercial and industrial resources, without the Delhi middleman. All revenue generated in Maharashtra must stay in Maharashtra for the benefit of Maharashtra. MNS is correct in distrusting ‘nationals’ on such issues of federalism as is evident from the 180-degree turn of the Centre on crucial questions like GST. Expect another such 180-degree turn on NCTC under some different name. Some consider Raj’s idea ‘dangerous’. Those who cannot trust Maharashtrians with their own affairs are themselves dangerous to Maharashtra.

Any party that wants to put Maharashtrians first must have concrete plans. All pro-Maharashtra parties better study Karnataka’s Sarojini Mahishi report that recommends 80% job reservation in new industrial investments to state residents given when the state government provides subsidies.
Berating and targeting working-class migrants is no shortcut to autonomy. It requires empowering people by ensuring the compulsory use of Maharashtrian languages in everything from ATMs to airport signs, from court proceedings to intra-government communication. This leads to transparent governance. A Maharashtra-first agenda has to stem the gradual destruction of Maharashtra education board, now primarily a poorer person’s board. The Centrally sponsored encroachments by Delhi-based ‘national’ boards are a threat to the education of Maharashtrians about their cultural, literary and linguistic heritage.

Maharashtra deserves nothing less than an inclusive pro-Maharashtra politics, bereft of anti-Muslim, anti-Dravidian, labour-union busting strains of goondaism. One must remember the old Marmik slogan — ‘Khicho na kaman, na talwar nikalo/ Jab tope ho muqabil to akhbar nikalo’. Maharashtra’s future is best secured by Maharashtrian youth and not by those who attach themselves to club of elite Indian babalogs privately and by dressing up as 17th century caricatures publicly. The murderers of Krishna Desai have gone through various twists and turns in the name of being pro Marathi manoos. The greatest tribute to that hutatma will be a win for genuine pro-Maharashtrian forces that are ready to admit past mistakes. 

The author is a commentator on politics and culture @gargac