‘Regional Pride’ is focus in this years elections.
Maharashtra election: In the name of regional pride : Have You Heard
[If you thought the dramatic colour and fierceness of belief of the “Marathi pride’ and “anti-outsider” sentiment was limited to the Thackerays and the common man was more restrained about this feeling, then re-consider your opinion. Travel through the predominantly urban areas of Mumbai and Thane and you would find quite a few staunch supporters – ranging across social and economic hues – of the Thackeray brand of politics.
A group of young women in Sewri in Mumbai enthusiastically greet a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or MNS candidate who is on a door-to-door campaign. “Are you from here?” we ask.
“Of course we are. We are all pure Marathis. None of us have come from outside. Why would you even ask such a question? We are not one of those who grab a share from others’ rights. These people from outside come and take away our jobs and start believing they can control our city. MNS will throw them out,” one of them says. Others agree emphatically.
In Mahim assembly constituency in Dadar (west) in Mumbai, we come across a middle aged voter, who claims to be “in actual touch with the powers to be in Delhi) read Sonia Gandhi”. But five minutes into the conversation with him and you realize he is hardly the ‘moderate brand of politics’ that his supposed friends in Delhi stand for.
“Everyone who comes from outside to take away our jobs and ruin our city should just be driven out…whoever speaks against us is punished, either by us or by nature. Death is the final penalty for challenging the Marathi manoos,” he says, giving us an eerie feeling with his examples of those who “questioned the Marathi and were punished”, ranging from Mahatma Gandhi to Sunil Dutt and YSR Reddy.
Says a voter in Dharavi in Mumbai, “We won’t vote for the MNS because they believe in goondaism. But we agree that outsiders should just stay out of our state.”
In Thane, a former senior Shiv Sena leader who later defected to the MNS but subsequently left that too, refuses to speak to us in Hindi or Marathi. “You can ask your question in whichever language you please to. I will answer only in Marathi because of my principles,” he tells us.
While these are just sporadic examples, the depth of this sentiment and extent of hatred against outsiders in unmistakable. Such people might not necessarily translate into MNS voters, or perhaps even Shiv Sena voters this time, but by wearing “Marathi chauvinism” on their sleeves, they definitely make for a potential and sustainable votebank for those into a negative brand of politics.
This is also a dangerous trend for a state, which has the potential to develop and grow further, precisely because of its multicultural social structure.](“Gateway of India Bye bye Mumbai | This is one of the snaps I… | Flickr”)