The Great Indian Divide....In making!

Politics as people say knows no bounds. This is what seems to be happening these days with MNS supremo Raj Thackeray taking over the mantle of gundaraj from his Uncle Balasaheb. It seems he thinks he has been sent by the God to Earth to fight for marathi manoos' cause. And what a cause my dear!

The kind of hatred that he is preaching I fear will have a very lasting and disastrous impact and in a very subtle way. The politics of dividing people on the basis of caste, creed, color, gender,
religion, and region is not something new. But this policy of openly preaching hatred in a democratic country like India is disastrous and spells doom for the nation as a whole. India if one knows is not a monolithic entity. It is so diverse and colorful that you cannot appreciate its beauty unless you explore different cultures, communities, and regions that comprises what India was yesterday and what it is today.

But seeing what is going on today I cannot comment on having the same future for us. Raj
openly attacks North Indians especially people from other states like UP and Bihar in his speeches. He says that he is not against anyone from other states but just that marathi culture and language should be respected. I wonder if any person is so high in stature that he or she can change the perception of the great marathi culture which occupies its place in the annals of our history since ages. I know for sure that it's not being trying to be a self-appointed champion for marathi cause but basically trying to gain a political mileage by playing with marathi people's sentiments. He is new into politics and he knows it well that it will be very tough to make a mark on people's mind unless he does something really drastic and he thinks this is the right path to choose. But I wonder why the mass is so innocent or may be ignorant not to see what is behind the curtains. Although I don't completely disagree with what one can make masses do for a cause no matter how baseless they are. It's up to our leaders to be more responsible and understand the repercussions of what they do now will have a perilous impact later for our society and country as a whole. I have spent around 3 years in Mumbai and I have some very good friends there (of course time and distance catches on every relationship) who were local marathis too. I
believe one never makes friendship with people based on where they come from, what their ethnicity is etc. etc but the qualities in the person that one admires. I never felt a tinge of being an outsider in their so called territory. Wherever I have gone within India whether it's Kerala, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta I have never felt I am in an unknown land. The dialect/language/culture may be different but then I knew these are one of our own. Please remember I am not xenophobic but then you can easily feel that you are out of place and in a foreign land if you have not been there for a long time. Every nation has its own unique traits/characteristics.
The kind of politics being played has already started taking its toll with already 3 people officially declared dead and the unspoken fear and a feeling of "not being one of us" has already started creeping in people's senses. The worst thing is that our politicians/law agencies are not doing enough to curtail such outfits who are trying to make a mark based on such policies of discriminations.

And if we start thinking of India being a composition of so many *different* people like Marathis, Biharis, Assamese, Kashmiris, Tamilian I don't see that day being too far when India as a republic will cease to exist. After all, diversity is what differentiates us and still keeps us united as Indians.

>sS