By Hem Raj Jain,
Normally any dispute about the protection of the cultural, social, political and economic interests of the sons/daughters of the soil wouldn’t have created so much anxieties in India but then Mumbai (the political capital of Maharashtra, the financial capital of India sending the lion’s share of tax revenue to central government and having majority of non-Marathi in it) is a different proposition and have a very serious and grave implications if things are not put in proper perspective and the contending issues are not resolved sanely and permanently.
The ruling Congress party at the center has an uninterrupted record of anti-federalism since the days of pre-independence India as is evident from the fact that the federal plan mooted by Britishers and accepted in principle even by Jinnah (with slight modification in Grouping model) could easily and without any adverse political effects on Hindus had avoided India’s partition but the Congress always intoxicated with heady wine of over-centralism enforced India’s partition in 1947.
Hence it is no surprise that the declaration by Maharashtra Chief Minister of Congress party that – the Taxi drivers shall be required to have the working knowledge of State language Marathi (rather Marathi as mother tongue as is now demanded by regional parties) – and then the withdrawal of his declaration by the CM under the pressure of Congress party central leadership is the root cause of the on-going ‘Identity – problem’ in Mumbai, though the blame for this current problem is being put on pro-Marathi activists by ill-informed people.
Not learning any lesson from the danger of majoritarianism and its natural fall-out, the minority complex amongst various groups in any democracy (which triggered Muslim minority complex even in pre-independence India and which due to inept handling by Congress party for all practical purposes mainly to become the party of Hindus culminated in the partition of India), the Indians are again trying to induct minority complex in Marathis by rallying BJP-RSS and Congress central leadership (including T.V. statements of political green horn Rahul Gandhi and political light weight Vinay Katiyar of BJP) who, on the strength of the people of Bihar and U.P. and of people from rest of India where these parties have influence and power, are daring pro-Marathis for no reason. Both Rahul and Katiyar are very effective in rousing passions as Rahul is the son of de-facto ruler of India, Sonia Gandhi and Katiyar is the president of Hindutva militant group “Bajrang Dal’.
The irresponsible invokers (practically the entire media, politicians and political commentators from rest of India in a meaningless war against identity crises) of majoritarianism are forgetting a simple fact that though Marathas were defeated comprehensively by Ahmed Shah Abdali in Panipat War III – mainly due to militarily debilitating effect of Brahmnic Peshwai at Pune which had already seen the exit of the most dynamic Maratha warrior class from Maharashtra and the establishment of princely States by Scindias at Gwalior, Gaekwads at Baroda, Holkars at Indore etc – the latest history of Hindus (from the 17th to 19th century) says Marathas were the only people who had such a vast area of India under the influence of the power of their sword, and they will see to it that the militant Marathi political outfits like Shiv Sena (SS) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) take no time in invoking the memories of martial traditions of Marathas by appealing to the war cries of Shivaji Maharaj against “perceivedly invading rest of India” and which will be projected shrewdly thus by SS and MNS and here lies the greatest danger for the integrity of India. Because such confrontation may even engender (not unprecedented) demand for separate Maharashtra (not a land-locked State but having strategically important long sea boarder) and which will pale the separatist movements of Kashmir, North-East etc into insignificance.
These irresponsible anti-federal Indians are invoking even Article 370 of the Constitution of India (which is supposed to protect the interest of the locals but has done immense harm to the locals of J&K especially to Muslim Kashmiris) in order to arouse Hindu sentiments where pro-Marathis are being projected as anti-national (an euphemism for anti-Hindus) similar to Muslims of Kashmir valley.
Therefore, the patriotic elements of India should exert for the establishment of statutory “Central Commission for Local Preservation” (CCLP) which will recommend to Central Government (the ratio of local population to population from other States, the reservations to locals in various fields and other effective measures) on the reference by Central Government or State Governments like Maharashtra, J&K, Assam etc in case these governments find that due to any reason in any city or district the percentage of local population has gone below certain point (say 60 %).
With CCLP in place Article 370 can also be gainfully abolished.
Scope of CCLP can be widened to include subjects like the bifurcation of States. If on the reference by Central Government or State Governments CCLP finds that a particular region in that State has been discriminated against by successive governments then in the interest of preserving and promoting the interests of the locals CCLP may recommend that the region may have a separate State – may be like Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Poorvanchal, Harit Pradesh and Bundelkhand in U.P., Telangana in Andhra Pradesh etc.
(The writer is based in Noida and can be contacted on +91 – 9871365288 / 9910314707 / 9785095705)