Attitudes of Mumbai

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October 21, 2019

Mumbai, maharashtra, vada pav, chay, cigrette, chay wala, gateway of india, hotel taj, mumbaikar, aamchi mumbai, aamhi mumbaikar, muslims, thackeray family, devendra fadnavis, shiv sena, mns, uddhav thackeray, thackeray,mumbai meri jaan, mumbai jaan, — Image courtesy: Ibb.in

I am born here and have survived here, in my journey in this city what I have seen so far is that everyone is growing in Mumbai with their attitude. The city is known as the commercial capital of India. Mumbai is a city where religious convictions and secularism go hand in hand. You can find the mix of religions in Mumbai.

The North Indians have their own attitude. They feel we have come here to work, we want to earn better and make most of the work opportunities, and they can do whatsoever they want. On the other hand, the Gujarati’s have their own attitude, as they are business people, adding to the Mumbai business sector. For them Mumbai is their territory as it is attached to Maharashtra, they believe it’s their place. They live in attitude it’s my way or highway. Somewhat with their presence, Mumbai has become a noisy place.

A very less but noticeable population is of the Bene Israelis. From Sasoon Dock, to the Indian film industry, from infrastructure to construction in Mumbai, their contribution is huge but largely ignored and unfairly un-acknowledged. Maybe they never had any role in Indian politics. This Bene Israeli community always lives with an attitude of neglected people and the same with Jews and the Parsi community.

From Ratan Tata to Birla, all Parsi’s have set trends. They contributed to the economics of this city with global monuments like Taj hotels to basic household groceries like Tata salt. They are everywhere in our daily lives. But, they live their lives so secluded and quiet. Their population has an attitude of existing peacefully as silent performers and fully focus on business fronts.

Now here comes the Mumbaikar. This population, wants every right, as they are the son of the soil, they want everything. They are lazy, not laborious. That’s why you will not find them in a higher position. They will be surviving on luck and rights. Most of the industries are run by outsiders. All major service providers, industry makers, market influencers are not Mumbaikars. Mumbai economics is run by outside state people, and they hold a major stake in state politics too.

Even the CM is not a Mumbaikar. He hails from Vidarbha. For that matter, none of the CM’s were from Mumbai. The prominent face of Mumbai politics is the Thackeray family. But they hardly have reached higher positions in politics. They might be kingmakers or stakeholders. Apart from political boundaries, they have no powerful position. They should only be credited for keeping the Marathi flag high and deterring outsiders, especially the minorities.

Uttar Pradesh population not only dominates the larger part of Maharashtra politics but also they are everywhere. 80 percent of media is dominated by North Indians. From taxi drivers to tax managers, from Pani Puri wala’s, to peak of the hotel management industry, they dominate every sector. They have taken an active part in every area as a strong workforce.

If North’s Indians are vacated from Mumbai, the city’s economy will be at stake. When it comes to labour, manpower, economy, construction, infrastructure, without Uttar Bhartiya’s and Bihari’s, there is nothing left to imagine. They are the root level workforce. Bihari’s might be outsiders or in political terms par-prantiya, but we must confess that they lead this city from pin to polls. From peon to the poet, from intellectual to labourer, they have permeated and adapted every layer of survival. So here the question arises, are they not living with their attitude? They live with the subtle supremacy and strength, but with a silent humble attitude.

Last but not least, I want to collectively talk about the South Indians. Their presence is from food to business. Be it the Shetty’s, Kannadigas, Keralites or Andhraites. They will work as basic level labour, from serving idli to vada sambhar at your door to the IT sector and various brain jobs, you will find them everywhere. Rather, Mumbai is incomplete without them. They have the attitude of the boss.

Muslims too are an integral part of this city. From the underworld to the film industry, they are participants everywhere. But unfortunately, political parties baked their bread using them as agenda and propagated it for their selfish gains.

I might be forgetting few, I may not have focused on few, but here in Mumbai, everyone has their own attitude. This city is not owned by a single community. Being a Mumbaikar, I just have one thing to tell that Mumbai belongs to all.

No one is the custodian of Mumbai. Each one has availed the belongs to all. No one is the custodian of Mumbai. Each one has availed the opportunity to make his own presence and has sustained on his own strength, his own aptitude, and his own attitude. So let us all live with that fact and respect the spirit…the Mumbai spirit.

By Rupal Mistry

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 21 October, 2019

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Web Team

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October 21, 2019

Why three rather than two destinations for murderers?

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath known for his bold steps has mentioned three destinations for murderers while speaking on brutal day-light murder of Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari. He said that such murderers should either be thrown out of the country, be hanged to death, or be jailed.

But real problem is meaningless third option of keeping such criminals in jail for indefinite period extending even for decades because of our time-consuming justice-delivery-system that too with manageable prison. Unfortunate incident of hijack of IC-814 Indian plane on December 24, 1999 was caused only due to successful release of three notorious terrorists from Pakistan including Maulana Masood Azhar who has become headache for India after his forced release as pre-condition to free Indian civilian plane. Notorious-most gangsters openly operate their gangs from inside the jails with all facilities available during long unending captivity in prison-cells.

India should follow China and Myanmar to have only two options for such criminals i.e. either throw them out to their favored countries, or hang them to death (preferably publicly) maximum within one year of committing crime crossing all stages of various courts and disposal of mercy-petition before the President by giving priority day-to-day court-hearings. Once such system starts working, then crimes attracting death-penalty will drastically reduce. In present system death-penalty is not a deterrent against committing crimes.

Madhu Agrawal

Festival-gifts are social-evil and bribes

Festival-gifts like on Diwali to those in public and public sector are no less than bribes. These are given to persons in legislature, bureaucracy and even in judiciary also, with most of them accepting these having expectation in advance. Quoting from Hindu code in Manusmriti, the then President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on his retirement-eve rightly analyzed that gift coming with a purpose causes person losing their personality greatly.

Central government should immediately much before Diwali and forthcoming marriage-season issue a strict warning-order under Prevention of Corruption Act against giving and accepting any gifts by those being paid from public-exchequers. Both those gifting and accepting should be booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code. Central Vigilance Commission can also issue such advisories. Such orders and advisories should be prominently publicised through print and electronic media. Exchange of gifts is also responsible for massive traffic-jams during festive-season resulting in unnecessary spent of imported fuel and man-hours.

Since society does not reform itself, central government should impose a total ban on gifts, cash-envelopes, costly platters by non-relations at family-functions and festivals. It may be made compulsory to provide details of gifts given and received in Income-Tax returns.

In earlier time, system was devised for a noble cause of assisting non-affording ones to perform marriages of daughters. But with changing time, cash-envelopes and costly gifts have become a show of unholy status which in fact is a forced and compulsory burden especially for middle-income in a status-conscious society. All this is responsible for taking birth of girl-child in a family as bane rather than boon. Banning gifts will make people enjoy in such functions with happy mindset without realising it as a burden to attend such function.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

Kudos to Yashasvi Jaiswal

Yashasvi Jaiswal couldn’t appear for the Class X exams few days back, as he was dismantling a hapless Kerala attack in the Vijay Hazare Trophy en route to his second List-A century. The 17-year-old went one step further, smashing a spectacular double century (203, 154b, 17×4, 12×6) in Mumbai’s 38-run victory over Jharkhand and becoming the youngest-ever to score a double hundred in List – A cricket. Well we are proud of you as you are a bright future of India team.

Arif Mahfooz

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Dhananjay Munde’s speech edited with criminal intent: NCP

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Web Team

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October 21, 2019

A day after NCP leader Dhananjay Munde was booked over his alleged obscene remarks against cousin and Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde, an FIR has been registered against unidentified persons for ‘editing’ his speech with criminal intent, police said on Monday.

The FIR was lodged on Sunday evening following a police complaint filed by local NCP leader Walmik Karad, an official said.

Both the cousins are locked in a battle from Parli segment in Beed district in the ongoing state Assembly polls.

In his complaint, Karad said they suspect the role of BJP’s social media handlers behind the edited clip.

Based on the complaint, the Parli police lodged an FIR against unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code Sections 469 (forgery to harm reputation of any party), 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Information Technology Act.

Karad in his complaint alleged that Dhananjay Munde’s main speech at an election rally here was “distorted” with an attempt to “character assassinate” him.

“We suspect the hand of BJP’s social media handlers behind this clip,” he said.

A video purportedly showing the NCP leader making the remarks against the minister went viral on social media, following which a BJP functionary from Parli filed a police complaint against him on Saturday, an official earlier said.

The FIR was lodged late Saturday night against him under Indian Penal Code Sections 500 (defamation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman) and 294 (obscene act in public place), he said.

Dhananjay Munde on Sunday refuted the charges, saying the clip was edited and fake, and his remarks were “distorted” to project him as a “villain” by his rivals to win elections.

However, Pankaja Munde, who cast her vote in Parli on Monday, told reporters later that the video clip was not fake.

“I saw the clip several times and was hurt seeing the manner in which the speech was made and words used. The clip is not fake. The reaction and the tears shed later are fake,” she said.

The Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) on Sunday took suo motu (on its own) cognisance of remarks made by Dhananjay Munde, who is the leader of opposition in the Legislative Council. MSCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said action will be taken against the NCP leader.

Maharashtra Assembly polls: 5.64 pc voting recorded in Mumbai in first 2 hrs

By

Afternoon Voice

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October 21, 2019

Mumbai suburbs on Monday recorded 5.64 per cent polling in the first two hours as voting got underway for the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra, an election official said.

Long queues were observed outside several polling stations, indicating the percentage may go up in subsequent hours, the official said.

Voting began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

The Mumbai suburban area, comprising 26 Assembly seats, recorded 5.64 per cent polling in the first two hours, he said.

Other urban areas like Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad reported a moderate response, while the turnout in rural areas was on the higher side, he said.

Kolhapur reported 9.93 per cent voting in the first two hours.

Maharashtra recorded 63.38 per cent turnout in 2014 Assembly elections.

34,844 police personnel have lost their lives in the line of duty, says Amit Shah on Police Commemoration Day

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Afternoon Voice

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October 21, 2019

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday paid tribute to police personnel, who lost their lives in the line of duty.

While addressing the Police Commemoration Day Parade at National Police Memorial here, Shah said, “So far, 34,844 police personnel have lost their lives in the line of duty. 292 martyrs will be added to this list today.”

The Home Minister said that today we have 144 police personnel in comparison per 1,00,000 people, while ideally, there should 222 police personnel.

Due to this, 90 per cent of the policemen work for more than 12 hours and more than three-fourth of the policemen are not able to take weekly holidays, Shah said.

BJP-Sena alliance will win around 225 seats, says Piyush Goyal

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Afternoon Voice

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October 21, 2019

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra will win around 225 seats.

As polling is underway in Maharashtra and Haryana for Assembly elections, Goyal has expressed confidence and said that both Manohar Lal Khattar-led government in Haryana and Devendra Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra will come to power again.

“I am confident that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will win around 225 seats, opposition has lost all credibility and is nowhere in the contest. People are with Modi and Fadnavis. In Haryana, we are getting to see our target of 75-plus seats,” Goyal told media.

Polling for 90 seats of Haryana and 288 constituencies of Maharashtra began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm in the evening.

The electoral fate of over 4400 candidates- 1169 in Haryana and 3237 in Maharashtra will be sealed in EVMs by the voters who will exercise their democratic franchise in the assembly elections.

In Haryana, 19,578 polling stations have been set up whereas there are 96,661 polling booths in Maharashtra for citizens to cast their votes.

Can sinking Raj save PMC depositors?

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Rajesh Choudhary

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October 20, 2019

MNS chief Raj Thackeray has been a controversial politician. He parted his ways from the Shiv Sena in 2006 and founded his own party ‘Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’. Raj Thackeray is known for raising the issues of ‘Marathi Manoos’ and targeting people from UP and Bihar. He believes that the migration from these states has worsened the problems of Mumbai. In 2009 Maharashtra assembly elections, his party won 13 seats but in 2014, it could win only one seat. Thus, in the 2019 polls, Raj Thackeray and MNS are struggling to save their ground.

When our correspondent Nikhil Sagare spoke to MNS spokesperson Sachin More he said, “MNS has raised the PMC bank issue. We had met PMC bank officials and later on they raised the withdrawal limit to Rs 40,000. We will take future course of action after election.”

Raj Thackeray has become self-made patron of ‘Marathi Manoos’. It is seen that people of different organisations used to meet him and raise their issues before him. Recently, the depositors of the Punjab and Maharashtra cooperative (PMC) bank met Raj Thackeray on Saturday and apprised him of the scam that happened in the bank. The depositors told him that they are facing financial problems as their money is stuck. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed restrictions on withdrawal of amounts from the accounts after the scam. But Raj Thackeray is not in power nor has any power to find any solution and implement it. As per reports, he assured the depositors to raise their issues in his rallies. Interestingly, Saturday was the last day for campaigning in the state assembly elections. Similarly, BSNL workers also met Raj Thackeray and apprised him of their issues. But BSNL or PMC issues are beyond the ambit of Raj Thackeray so he could be just listening and protesting with them.

Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “People have lost faith in the government. They are aware that this government doesn’t work for the welfare of the common man. BJP had said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will look into this matter but no breakthrough has been achieved. Even though four people have lost their lives, the government has failed to resolve this matter. We will take up this matter and may also hold protests in the interest of depositors.”

In democracy, every political party or leader can raise the issues related to people or a section of society. In any crisis, people approach these parties or leaders and raise their issues. In return, they assure people to raise the issue before competent authorities and get it solved. In any healthy democratic country, it happens and it is a normal democratic process. Nothing is wrong in it. But some leaders make a mockery of democracy. They put their welfare before the welfare of citizens. They are supposed to solve the problems of common man. But they did not do so. Such leaders only bake their breads on the fire of politics.

In August 2019, the ED interrogated MNS chief in a money laundering case. After this, he remained almost silent. Political parties like NCP began questioning his silence. The boat of Raj Thackeray is sinking as his party MNS is continuously losing its ground. So, how can he save the sinking depositors of the PMC bank whose deposits are endangered? Many depositors died of heart attacks.

AAP vows money-muscle power free Maharashtra

By

Mohsin Siddiqui

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October 20, 2019

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said that it will increase its presence in Maharashtra and contest all forthcoming local elections in the state. The AAP vows to create a political culture in Maharashtra free of money and muscle power.

AAP National Joint Secretary Ruben Mascarenhas said, “The opposition has become weak. Farmer suicide has increased and they are unable to avail crop loan and crop insurance. The government is unable to provide basic amenities to people residing in urban areas. Despite all these issues, Congress has failed to play the role of opposition. We have succeeded in doing good work in Delhi. Brighter and best volunteers are working with Delhi government. We are planning to contest the 2022 BMC polls and we will contest 227 seats.”

It is remarkable that the AAP has fielded 24 candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly Elections. The party is contesting on six seats in Mumbai Metropolitan region. After the end of assembly poll campaign, the party thanked all people extending support to it. AAP said that seeing the fractured and paralysed opposition in the state, party decided to contest elections in Maharashtra. AAP claimed to win the hearts of people with its presence from Aarey to Akkalkuva, from Osmanabad to Brahmapuri. Now it is poised to contest all forthcoming local elections in Maharashtra.

AAP national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon said, “AAP is going to contest all local elections in future. We will contest Zilla Parishad and Municipal election. We will try to strengthen our cadre. Irrespective of our victory or loss we will play the role of opposition. Congress and NCP don’t utter a word against BJP. We will raise the issue of the common man and will also protest.”

According to AAP sources, the party is hopeful to register a win from Brahmapuri assembly seat where party candidate Paromita Goswami is contesting election. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal canvassed for Paromita Goswami in Brahmapuri. She is popular in this area for her successful liquor ban campaign. Goswami is a household name in this constituency.

AAP sources said that our 24 candidates have a credible track record of raising and fighting for pertinent issues. If they win, people will see that there is someone in the Vidhan Sabha who will raise people’s issues and hold the ruling party accountable to the public. The AAP has run a sincere and simple campaign. The party thanks its volunteers, leaders and candidates, for living up to ideals of honesty and humility throughout the campaign.

Aam Aadmi Party lacks in advertising and making fancy promises

By

Vaidehi Taman

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October 20, 2019

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is set to fight the Assembly elections with 24 contestants, including six in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. They are here with an intention to win all the seats but at the same time they are realistic.

Their 32 pages manifesto, titled ‘Aapla Maharashtra, Ananda Maharashtra’, aims to bring about a political culture without money and muscle power. They don’t accept donations in cash, and people don’t pay them much in white transactions. With fair deals sustaining politics is not easy. They have limited recourses and budget. Their only asset is a committed worker. In spite of all these odds, they are giving their best by taking people into confidence. Their party chief wants to re-engineer Maharashtra that has been reduced to a failed state. They plan to rejuvenate infrastructure at four levels- environmental, social, socio- economic and physical infrastructures. They want tariff on water and electricity would be brought down like it was done in Delhi where the party is in power.

Delhi CM Kejriwal believes that the AAP had acquired “quality governance experience” in the last five years in capital and it would be used as a template. AAP members are silently working on ground levels in their own capacity, hoping that the people would give them a chance to serve. Politics is unpredictable and outcome can be anything but they are committed to bring people’s friendly governance. There are tons of ongoing other works as well, about which the popular media is mostly silent. They are taking their each and every move smartly as they learned a lot from their past mistakes. They are playing the role of constructive opposition very well in various online forums and social networking sites. They are supporting good initiatives taken by PM for example: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and meanwhile writing letter to him for the wrong things happening around. The party kick-started its election campaign with “Save Aarey Movement” led by party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.

The AAP members, earlier took a stand against the cutting down of 2700 trees for the construction of metro car shed, stated the BJP has failed to protect the Aarey Colony. Echoing the sentiments AAP has assured the villagers and local tribal living in the area that their party will take the issue to the Parliament in favour of declaring Aarey a forest and a heritage green belt.

Other than Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka were the two states where the IAC movement was very strong and well organised. Once the movement converted itself into a political movement, it again found its strongest support and volunteer base in these two states. If you check the donation details indicates that a majority of the fund for the Delhi elections and Lok Sabha came from these two states. Even the outstate volunteers for Delhi elections consisted of strong contingents from these two states. Most of the volunteers who came over from the IAC movement did not have any political ambition, they were driven by idealism and a wish to see a corruption free India and saw their activities as a self sacrifice towards building a clean political platform.

Post Delhi elections, the groupism between Arvind’s team, Ankit, Ashutosh, Ashish, Sanjay, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, etc. came out in the open. The attempts to take control made most of the old volunteers rethink whether the party is a suitable platform for their idealism. In Karnataka since the members of the core state committee were pro-Arvind (and those who were not exited quietly), many volunteers left the party in disgust and became inactive. The party unit continued its existence but as an empty husk of either Arvind supporters or political opportunists. In Maharashtra, Mayank and a few other core members raised the banner of revolt against the arrogance of Arvind’s Team, this formed the nucleus around which those who were disgusted, they remained in the party and started working towards internal cleansing of the party. Since Delhi was unable to take absolute control over the Maharashtra unit the party High Command dissolved the party unit in Maharashtra initially. But when your intentions are clear and in the larger interest then things move for some betterment. Preeti Sharma Menon and her team really worked hard to regain the faith of people and restore the glory of party.

The contestants, AAP has chosen, are mostly grassroots workers. That should help them in translating into votes but not all. There are two kinds of people who attract votes, people who have worked in those areas and people who have appeal. Of course in our kind of system, it is believed that if you spend a lot of money and buy several people, which will get you votes. So, they don’t have thousands of people with them but they have a few people who are very committed. While the common man is busy guessing political moves and motives, BJP and SS have pulled the biggest trick in the history of Indian Politics. BJP and SS are ideologically the same and no matter what comes along. They have managed to keep voters glued to their media channels, where other parties are struggling to reach people without much coverage. AAP is contesting the elections with virtuous focused and real issues. Success and failure, winning or losing is all decided by the voters, that time has to decide, but we must accept the fact that they have stood as an alternative in present scenario of glossy politics.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Maharashtra assembly polls: Over 40000 personnel deployed in Mumbai

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Web Team

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October 20, 2019

For Maharashtra assembly election 2019, more than 40,000 policemen will be on duty in Mumbai for the security of people. The Mumbai Police has taken all efforts for a peaceful election process.

According to report, 12 companies of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), 22 companies of Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) and 2,700 Home Guards will man Mumbai for free and fair elections on October 21.

It is reported that, to stop mischievous elements, during the election a special drive was initiated.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Mumbai, Pranay Ashok said “To ensure safe, fair and impartial elections, more than 40,000 personnel will be deployed. Since imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), 511 illegal weapons were seized. Cash of around Rs. 8,14,20,403 was also seized.”

He further said various arms of police like anti-terrorism squad (ATS), city crime branch, anti-terrorism cells at police stations, anti-sabotage teams, quick response teams, dog squads, and special forces are also on alert.