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Divide And.....
Well, this is not the first time we in India are witnessing the
type of happenings that rock our largest metro – Mumbai. Mumbai
is one of the most populous cities in the world. With a
population of 19 million, the Mumbai Metropolitan Area which
includes cities of Navi Mumbai & Thane, is also the world's 5th
most populated metropolitan area.
However, It hardly behaves like a metro. We
have seen several violent incidents in Mumbai and this is one
another. The statistician will just add another number to his
list. But, the locals do suffer, for no fault of theirs.
One wonders if dividing India into linguistic
States was a correct move. It has generated more problems than
it has solved. We should have had straight lines to mark our
different States. Each State will have several languages,
religions,castes etc. Perhaps that would have given us a better
Indianness. Today, we stand divided on every trivial issue.
Coming back to Mumbai, It has Hindus (68%),
Muslims (17%), Christians (4%) and Jains (4%). Parsis,
Buddhists, Sikhs and Jews form the rest. Ethnically, 42 percent
of Mumbai's population are Maharashtrians, 18 per cent
Gujarathis, 21 per cent North Indians, three per cent Tamils, 3
per cent Sindhis and five per cent Kannadigas.
And, to whom does Mumbai belong? That is the
question. Bal Thackeray now says that Amitabh has always
expressed his gratitude to Mumbai and its people....', Why
should he say so? Is not UP a part of our motherland? It is
indisputable that it was his Shiv Sena that started the Mumbai
for Mumbaikars slogan long back. Raj Thackeray is just carrying
it forward.
Unfortunately, sub-nationalisms are, allowed
to eclipse nationalism in our nation. Karnataka won't give us
Cauvery water; We won't give power to Kerala;etc.etc. In the
sixty one years after independence, we have miserably failed to
instill nationalism into the minds of our compatriots. If Gandhi
had lived longer or if Subash Chandra Bose was around, perhaps
we would have been better Indians. Thanks to the businessmen,who
are interested in retaining such a huge market and the
religious, who want to visit holy places without visas, we are
one nation.
Here, the (ir)responsibility of our media is
worth mentioning. They, especially the electronic media are
interested only in sensationalising trivialities. They try to
make a mountain out of a mole, create tension, report them,
magnify them and earn revenues on the basis of TRP ratings! This
is hardly doing credit to our tradition. The media has a
responsibility to society. It should never cause any friction
among the peace loving public of our Nation.
I think it was Einstein who said that next to
religion, nationalism divides man and man. Sub nationalism is
even worse.
H Ramakrishnan
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