Once the display of signboards in Marathi in large letters was taken up by Raj Thackeray’s MNS party, his workers used to raid the shops not having Marathi signboards. The matter then went into tremendous chaos, but now the state cabinet decided to make it compulsory for shops to have Marathi signboards. Mumbai’s north Indian and a non-Marathi trader finds it hazardous. The politics of signboards finally grabbed ‘Bhaiyyas” on the hit list.
It must have been easier to guess from the word ‘Bhaiyya’ that we are talking about people of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Statistically speaking, most of the rape cases that have occurred recently were done by people from these regions. Raj Thackeray has the card of ace to throw against any accusations about his hatred towards ‘bhaiyyas’ from the Northern part of India. His ideal approach of differentiating people based on their regions, of not limited to but, vastly geographic, has resulted in many of his own followers going against his ideology of ‘Marathi manoos’. There are many who have mentally graduated from living in a secular society with peace and such people have rightfully condemned this ideology.
One of the examples of why people have decided to migrate their businesses from Mumbai to nearby cities of Gujarat, no local body tax, no compulsory gumasta, etc. Mumbai has become like a city where people come in with high hopes and dreams yet find it extremely difficult to settle themselves in the city, how would they run a business then? And how will that help Maharashtra earn up to and contribute a high percentage GDP every year? There are various reasons why Mumbai has failed in reaching itself as the commercial capital of the country, one of which is discouragement from the government for people to take up self-employment.
Raj used to be seen as Modi of Maharashtra if given a chance however, his sour ideology has kept him at bay. There are various impositions that people do not like, for example, imposing the Marathi translation of names on every signboard, etc. Of course, one has to follow the rules of the land that they live in, but it is not compulsory to adopt their culture too, right? We live in a metropolitan society; we need to think about the comfort of those who have come from the outside. Being proud of what you are is one thing and imposing your pride on others is another, it tells about the fanatic nature of a person which clearly suggests that they don’t really believe in growth but more into chaos. Now Shiv Sena too somewhere restoring to the same hooliganism by passing bills in the cabinet.
The reason why I am talking about Raj Thackerey is that he is a competent leader, an excellent orator and an idealistic ruler who has it in him to rule the state but, the only thing where he has lost support from the masses is physically abusing the outsiders and challenging every random minister in his own time, as once he did to Rahul Gandhi, who came in Mumbai, gave his speech and left with the highest glory and fan following, unlike what happened to him when he visited Gujarat.
It is easy to get the fan following by encouraging masses with the power, people love when power is given to them, it is in the core behaviour of human beings to rule and out-rule the ruler and when someone gives you that feeling, he comes ahead and accepts to follow you. Everyone likes to win; everyone wants to have that pride in them. Raj, once when he addressed the youth of Maharashtra, said with pride that when someone talks about their son joining MNS, they should feel proud for their son and not feel ashamed of the ‘gang’ that he has joined in.
He talked about pride and glory and got many following him; however, destiny had to take the course and truth had come out. Raj Thackeray is the chief of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Found in 2006. He always said that Marathi people should get the first rights on the jobs available in Maharashtra, which I agree with, but he didn’t do anything other than beat immigrants, if he really cared about Marathi people then he could have made the Marathi people more capable by educating them more than Immigrants. Fortunately, Marathi people are educated enough to realize that MNS and Raj Thackeray only hate Politics and don’t do any groundwork. He is a political failure without any vision…many people thought he would turn something big after splitting from Shivsena but I was pretty sure that this was the most foolish decision which cost him his political career… either way, no one bothers about him except some unemployed youth.
Fortunately, Marathi people are well educated and didn’t vote for him in the 2014 and 2019 elections, had he become the CM, Maharashtra would have become like any other underdeveloped Indian state and full of violence. He is an excellent orator, but he doesn’t do any groundwork. If he wants to be relevant in politics then he should mind his ways. Since the Maharashtra government has passed the bill, let the law take its own course, there is no point in raiding selective shops and harassing traders.
Follow me on Twitter @VaidehiTaman and let us discuss if Raj is a leader material or just an orator?
