it is frightening to see innocent and thinking people falling prey to the worst kind of chauvinism and incendiary politics. raj thakeray's periodic tirades have absolutely nothing to do with the unemployed marathi youth. had he cared for them, he and the political outfit that fathered him - the shiv sena - would have fought for the textile iworkers and tried to protect if not their jobs at least their rights to live in mumbai. but they did exactly the opposite. they were complicit in the mill-closures, in the sale (and purchase by themselves) of mill land and the removal of the mill workers from the chawls of central mumbai - the very habitat that spawned the shiv sena in the first place. most of the jobs in mumbai in the organised sector have no presence of u.p. and bihar migrants. they are to be found in the unorganised and very ill-paid sector. state govt. jobs and even public and private sector jobs have a very large marathi presence. as far as ceos and mds and fat-cats are concerned, yes, there are many non-maharashtrians but they have never been targetted by raj and his ilk. marathi youth is angry and frustrated. and the agricultural sector is in such crisis that there is a huge flow of rural poor to mumbai from the rest of the state. but the upwalas and biharis are not responsible for either the anger or the frustration or the crisis. they are just an easy target so that those responsible are let off the hook. as far as the railways are concerned - the recruitment is done all over india on a zonal basis. the mumbai-based tests are not only for jobs in the railways in maharashtra but for the entire zone. if one visits railway establishments in maharashtra and mumbai one will fine that maharashtrians are well-represented as they should be. those coming from other states who qualify are usually sent to hindi-speaking areas. popular prejudice against lalu cannot be used to justify raj thackeray's diabolical politics. |
