Divided We Stand

Many of my non-marathi friends ask me why the “marathi versus non-marathi” issue is so much raised in Mumbai and not in entire Maharashtra. I have been born and brought up in Mumbai and I wonder if the “marathi versus non-marathi” issue was always there in Mumbai. I had been surrounded by people from all over India and from all the religions. Had I ever thought that all these people are not from here – not ours?

This brings another question in my mind - what is the real definition of “ours” and “not ours”? of “us” and “them”? It really depends on the context in which we are talking. The “us” and “them” often keep on changing without us being realizing it. A political party in Mumbai uses all-together different sets of “us” and “them” while criticizing Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Gandhi and Shahrukh Khan respectively. Do they themselves know for which “us” are they fighting against which “them”?

Taking the attention back to Mumbai – yes, there is a problem, the problem of over-population. The city’s infrastructure and resources has taken too much load and cannot take any more. Now-a-days even I – in spite being in Mumbai for so long - fear to go out of my home and travel. God knows from where so much of a crowd has come and is still coming in my city. I really wish that there should be some sort of a control to the inflow of people-traffic in this city. A control – not only for people from UP and Bihar, not only for any other non-Maharashtrians, but for anyone in this world including people from other parts of Maharashtra. I am not saying that my city is something special and different from rest of India. Mumbai truly belongs to entire India, but does this mean that entire India should come and stay in this small land?

So the problem is that – there is a city in a country which is over-populated since people from the remaining parts of country come there to search employment opportunities. Now where does the question of “marathi versus non-marathi” arise? Have some people conveniently dragged in this issue to make their own profits?

Probably, Mumbai problem being morphed into “marathi versus non-marathi” is not a single example. Every problem in India is somehow being morphed into “us versus them” - “someone versus someone”. Do we really need to look at every problem as “someone versus someone”? May be, we just like debating every problem in this “someone versus someone” format. When we discuss Mumbai it has to be discussed as Marathi versus non-Marathi. When we discuss terrorism it has to be discussed as Hindus versus Muslims. When we discuss reservations it is Brahmins versus Dalits. When it is slum rehabilitations it is Tax-payers versus the Poor. It is this debate that continues and the solving the real problem takes the back-seat.

The British had used the policy of divide and rule in India and it is just being carried over by the politicians after independence. The British were outsiders. But who are the politicians – one of us, voted by us by the processes of democracy. They are just a reflection of the society. Does it mean that the Indian public themselves support the divide and rule policy? Do we really like to be divided and ruled?

The “us versus them” syndrome is really the bad part with India. But, there is a good part too. In spite of so much of divisions, this country somehow runs and does it pretty well. Much better than so many other countries that does not have so many lines of division in the society. It is because of this good part that I like my country so much. There is some magic in this land which gives it's people the ability to stand in spite of being so divided. From where does this magic come from – my paagal stupid mann often wonders!