Outsiders, Insiders & Others
Posted by gargi on 06 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: India, Mumbai, Society
In the last week, a simmering problem just boiled over. There has been violence against the “North Indians”. And, I am surprised that people are surprised. I am appalled. I am horrified. But, I am not surprised. Infact I expected it to happen rather earlier.
In the last 13 years that I have been back in Mumbai, the murmurs against ‘north indians’ have been growing slowly but strongly. ‘They take away our jobs’ is the common refrain.’it is becoming unsafe because of them’ is another common refrain. Mumbai has been f***ed up by north Indian drivers,who don’t follow traffic rules is another. They spit on the street is another….
At the core is the fact that there is the ‘outsider’ - who doesn’t mind being the outsider - who is taking away jobs. Yesterday it was the blue collared job as the mill worker, today it is as the driver, as the cabbie, as the rickshawalla, as the vegetable vendor. In Pune, friends have been talking about how you cannot find Maharashtrian rickshawallas, vegetable vendors and milk men, anymore. In Nangargaon - where we have a house - the local rickshawalla keeps complaining about the ‘uttar bharatiya’ who comes in - and six months later his entire village is here - and takes over jobs. In fact, the village next door is mostly full of UPites and Bihari’s. There is one Maharashtrian family left. Go to areas likeVasai, and there are entire villages that have become considerably ‘north indian’
In Mumbai too, the character of a number of localities have changed. Go to Vile Parle, go to Goregaon (East), go to pockets of Andheri (East) - and you will see a sea change in the demographic profile. I grew up in these areas, and where I would hear Marathi on the streets all the time, I hear Hindi…. and it is not Bambiah that i hear…. And, here too the jobs are gone. With the mills closed, the docks needing less people, and manufacturing per se moving out of Mumbai… there is no place left for the ‘local’. So just as almost 40years ago, my mother has vivid memories of that , the Sena went to war with Madrasis - who took away jobs in the docks, in the mills… today the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is going to war with the Uttar Bharatiyas who are taking away the subsistence level jobs.
The Shiv Sena has long ago sold the interests of the Maharasthrians… when it made the deal with mill owners to move the mills out with minimum compensation. Add to this, the fact that every political party from the Congress to the BJP to the Samajwadi Party are tripping over each other to fast track ration cards, domicile certificates, and legalising shanties that sprung up in the recent past … There was a point of time that strong unions would have ensured a certain minimum representation of unions locals…. but, the unions are toothless or party fronts…. So what you have a potential tinderbox… And that tinderbox just caught fire….
This morning I asked our maid Vimal - what she thought about the MNS and the violence. The joyful smile on her face told me what I didn’t want to know. And, Vimal is a kind gentle soul. She is a staunch Ambedkarite. She doesn’t have much truck with the Sena. She didn’t even know who Raj Thackeray was. But, she was happy. Anjana - the Malish walli - had a similar reaction, her sister used to sell vegetables, and was displaced by the bhaiyya who undercut her. She became a maid servant. L at our office, smiled and said that it shouldn’t happen (nahi hona chahiye) and smiled again.
The resentment, as I said earlier, has been building up for quite sometime. And, nobody has paid any heed to the voices on the street. Raj Thackery and MNS may not represent everyone. Or even all Maharastrians. Or even all blue collared Maharashtrians. But, they are voicing an issue that impacts a great many peoople. The issue of jobs. Jobs for the locals. It is a serious issue, and cannot be swept under the carpet under the weight of our outrage at the destruction of the ‘cosmopolitan’ fabric of Mumbai. Unfortunately, their voicing of the issue has been damned by their use of violence.
What Raj Thackeray and his bunch of goons has done is not just criminal but Unconstitutional. It is also highly dangerous - because it is this identity called ‘Indian’ that keeps us together as a nation. Otherwise we have nothing else in common. And, Indians have the right of free movement and the right to go about their everyday lives without being pulled out of trains and buses and beaten up or without having their livelihood burnt down or threatened.
Technorati Tags: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Shiv Sena, Congress, BJP, Samajwadi Party, Raj Thackeray
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7 Comments »
on 06 Feb 2008 at 10:56 pm 1.Long live regionism….. « India My Country said …
[...] http://calamur.org/gargi/2008/02/06/outsiders-insiders-others/ [...]
on 07 Feb 2008 at 4:11 am 2.Recursive Hypocrisy said …
Thackeray and his bunch of goons has done is not just criminal but Unconstitutional. It is also highly dangerous - because it is this identity called ‘Indian’ that keeps us together as a nation. Otherwise we have nothing else in common. As though,having something in common with India is more important than personal/regional/linguistic/tribal identity
on 07 Feb 2008 at 2:58 pm 3.‘Outsiders, insiders and others’ at Blogbharti said …
[...] Harini opines that the recent incidents of violence in Mumbai indicate that a ’simmering problem just boiled over’: At the core is the fact that there is the ‘outsider’ - who doesn’t mind being the outsider - who is taking away jobs. Yesterday it was the blue collared job as the mill worker, today it is as the driver, as the cabbie, as the rickshawalla, as the vegetable vendor. In Pune, friends have been talking about how you cannot find Maharashtrian rickshawallas, vegetable vendors and milk men, anymore. In Nangargaon - where we have a house - the local rickshawalla keeps complaining about the ‘uttar bharatiya’ who comes in - and six months later his entire village is here - and takes over jobs. In fact, the village next door is mostly full of UPites and Bihari’s. There is one Maharashtrian family left. Go to areas likeVasai, and there are entire villages that have become considerably ‘north indian’ Linked by kuffir. Join Blogbharti facebook group. [...]
on 13 Feb 2008 at 2:46 am 4.Kundan said …
Yh u true this thing is happening but I will suggest u never go away from India and snatch other country people Bread and butter. Also suggest maharastrian to not leave their pond called Maha. Oh soory i get u people are not capable to compete with other. No problem take ur mumbai and we will make another mumbai outside Maha in next coming decade.
I think sardar patel have to reborn once again and will have to teach ur minnow leader Raj Thakar.
U know mass exodus of Industry will happen if they can’t find cheap labour. If u read economics then u must know labour cost.
U don’t feel proud that u born in Maha but as Indian.
U will soon taught by North Indian, I promise. When poor innocent people will get hurt and their soul will curse ur Land. Then Sea level will rise soon and u all will vanish. Then delhi will be capital hub.
I get, u people are part of anti-globalization team. I think time has come when ur state development will decline and others will increase.
I still suggest and know u are not capable and competitive and hate hindi.
U want another country and will learn same lesson as J&K. U region will be militarised and suffer from Jawans brutal treatment.
on 22 Feb 2008 at 12:10 pm 5.Your page is now on StumbleUpon! said …
[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]
on 22 Feb 2008 at 3:40 pm 6.vitamink3 said …
Even I am not surprised by what has happened. Divide and rule leaves a society poorer but it has always worked for those in power.
So what is sad is not that MNS has taken to the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ philosophy. Politics has always been the refuge of scoundrels and I had no great expectations from Raj.
What is sad is that these tactics work. Parties that divide us and generate hostility amongst us, win elections. Shiv Sena did it. BJP did it at a national level. And they both came to prominence because of it.
More than half a century ago the Britishers did it too. Divided us, made us fight with each other while they plundered.
We all wear several identities. Religion, caste, sects, region, language, occupation, gender, income level are just a few that can be used to divide us. And politicians will use this to divide us to gain power. And we will let them divide us and vote them into power. It’s not the short sightedness of the politicians alone that is to blame. It’s our shortsightedness too - the Maharashtrians who smile in glee at the antics of MNS.
The next elections, watch out for MNS. It’s going to cease to be the non-entity it is at the moment. Divide and rule will work for them too.
Maharashtrians versus north Indians. That’s the way it is for now, till some other scoundrel comes with another way to divide us. And we will vote them into power too.
on 22 Feb 2008 at 9:10 pm 7.gargi said …
divide and rule works, because we let it……
and yes … MNS will play a large part……
but it is those who manage to play on caste, community, or identity vote banks who get to power. We actually don’t have a leader with a pan Indian mass base ……isn’t that scary !
(addendum : the only leader who actually has a pan Indian mass base, was born in Italy