How do you drill sense in someone's head who uses non-sense as a political weapon?

Vichar karala pahije? Sochne ki baat hai. We must ponder over this.

Raj Thakare and his utterances make me angry, very angry. His language is downright insulting. And he must apologize to all Indians for what he has been doing. And I am dead certain Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not his ancestor.

One of the MNS posters that insultingly asked Jaya Bachhan to leave Maharashtra also declared that Maharashtra is Shivaji’s land. I don’t think so. I come from UP. That is Shivaji’s land too. The great Chatrapati presented his kingdom to his Guru Samarth Ramdas and ruled it in the name of God. Maharashtra is Lord Ram’s land too. I have great ancestors who were born in Maharashtra. Sant Gyaneshwar, Shivaji, Vasudev Balwant Padhke, Chapekar Brothers, Tilak, Savarkar, Acharya Atre, and many others.

Since my childhood I have been told so and I know they are my ancestors. I have many more ancestors who were born in different parts of this great land, spread from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. I worship them and seek inspiration from them. I think I have a little bit of them in me in some way or the other. I communicate with them in Hindi, the language I speak, a derivative of Sanskrit, like all other great Indian languages of this beautiful land. And sometimes when I need to read their great thoughts, I read Hindi translations of their work.



There are some who claim only the people who speak Marathi have the right to share the ancestry of these great men. Shame on such people for such blasphemy. Had they not been my fellow countrymen, I would have pulled their tongues out and cut it into two thousand pieces for this. I would not let anyone question the fact that every Indian is an heir to the legacy of Ram, Krishna, Seeta, Savitri, Panini, Buddha, Vivekanand, Shankaracharya, Maharana Pratap, Shivaji, Tilak, Savarkar, Subhash Bose, Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Aazad, Bismil, Khudiram Bose, Ashfaqulla Khan, and all the great men and women of India, warriors, intellectuals, and spiritual giants.

More I hear of such sectarian nonsense, I get convinced that these traitors to the nation share their ancestry with vidharmis like Afzal Khan and Aurangzeb, the arch enemies of Shivaji Maharaj. They are doing what these two were doing to this land at some point of history, destroying the country's soul force and our socio-cultural unity. And India is ruled by eunuchs and Jaichands these days is obvious from the fact that despicable dung heaps and small-time politicians are being allowed to spread the stench of sectarian politics with absolute freedom, aided by a handful of pet dogs who would do anything for a piece of bone.

And Mumbai’s Police Commissioner has just one answer to every question, ‘ We will not allow anyone to take law into his/her hands and we are studying their speeches. We will act. We will keep peace.’ He cannot hear and see the obvious. The law is being flouted openly. Why is he not putting all those behind bars first who have been tearing up posters, destroying private property, and attacking people and shops? What is his police doing about the open threats to life and property of Mumbaikars by a few goons? Why is he not acting against the vandals who, I am sure, are known to local policemen since they hang around together in their free time? Why is he allowing them to have a free run? The situation is deteriorating fast. We have a threat, extortion, and goonda raj in Mumbai. The state  and the media is mollycoddling a monster in the making.

And what are our courts doing? The Bombay High Court had fined Shiv Sena for giving a Bandh call some time ago. Bal and Udhav Thakare have not called for a bandh since then. MNS goons are destroying private property and issuing open threats. The High Court is asking the Government of Maharashtra as to who will pay for the damages. Why cannot it order Raj Thakare and his cohorts to pay up for their misdeeds? Ek tagada bees crore ka fine maaro, sab line pe aa jayenge. Jitne hoarding par coal taar lagaya hai, uska sau guna kharcha bharne ko bolo. Fine nahi to jail. Aur jail se Thakare Parivaar ki nani marti hai.

All sectarian leaders should thank their stars that I am not the Prime Minister of this country. I would treat every sectarian politician who tried to divide the people of this country in the name of language and region as termites and would make it my mission to search them wherever they were hiding and eliminate them. I would cut off the hands that were raised against any Indian in the name of regionalism, in any part of the country. And if any politician from any region tried to use his brigade of goons to terrorize Indians of another region into submission or exodus, I would make their lives a living hell.

Had I been the Prime Minister, I would have dismissed the Maharashtra government a long time ago and cleaned up the streets of all miscreants who terrorize simple folks, and would have had their leaders put behind bars forever. Had I been the Prime Minister of this country, I would have wiped out sectarian politics forever and scrapped article 370 without delay and those who came out on the streets of Kashmir opposing such action, would have been shot dead without warning. Even if I had to kill a million people, I would have done that. It is a small price to pay to keep the idea of our nation alive. Of course I would have meted out the same treatment to corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, moneybags, and power brokers who undermine our national interests. 

All Indians are equal. They are free to speak their language, practice their rituals and customs, eat the food of their choice, and live happily in any part of the country and earn their livelihood. They are all equally subject to the laws of the land and are punishable for any crime committed. They have the freedom to express their points of views and have healthy discourses among themselves on various issues. However, they cannot be discriminated against or harassed by anyone in the name of language, caste, skin tone, region, and religion. That is what our constitution guarantees.

The Indian state can make many compromises except on this issue. It cannot allow regional politics to assume exclusivist dimensions. If it is allowed, the Indian nation will wither away. We will have caste and clan leaders who will divide the land among themselves as their fiefdom. The Thakares are trying to do exactly that -- turn Maharashtra into their personal fiefdom. Look at their utterances. ‘You speak in Hindi, you insult Marathis’. ‘Shahrukh should not have called himself Dilliwala, then what is he doing in Maharashtra. We will not allow this.’ ‘The Bachhans build schools in UP and make money in Mumbai. What have they given to Maharashtra?’ ‘We will not allow Bhojpuri films to be shown in Maharashtra.’ ‘We will not allow Bachhan films to be shown in Maharashtra unless they apologize.’ ‘You must respect the Marathi Manoos.’ ‘You must have your sign boards in Marathi, otherwise be ready to face the consequences.’

This is pure non-sense. Who is insulting Marathi? And how do I insult Marathi or Marathi Manoos by speaking in Hindi? Marathi is my language too, even if I cannot speak it. It is the language of my ancestors, like all other Indian languages. I don’t respect it because some idiot threatens me to do it. I do it naturally, out of my own free will and regard and love for the people of every region of my country.

I proudly say I am from Uttar Pradesh and working in Mumbai. I loved it when my city got a new name some years ago. I hated it when anyone called it Bombay after that. I did not have these feelings because of Raj Thakare's threats. I love my country's cultural legacy and Mumbai was a name that reminded me of that. And I am equally proud of Dilli and Dilliwalas. And I will continue to work in Mumbai as a proud Uttar Bharatiya and an Indian and a pucca Marathi, even if I don't speak Marathi.

You cannot respond to the MNS crap politically. You cannot have a reasonable discourse here. There is no room for a dialogue. Can you argue with the lumpen who only know the language of threats? No. So what do you do? You act. You give them a tight slap across their face and a kick on their ass. You give  these goons a taste of the power of the state. You act decisively, legally and administratively. These lumpen are not driven by high ideals. They just want to have a larger share in the loot that goes on among the politicians in Mumbai. They feel there is great political and economic pay-off for them if they pursue this course. Let them realize that this kind of mischief mongering is going to cost them heavily. Let them know that the Indian state has the power to teach them a bitter lesson and to end their wicked games.

What actually is happening is so different. The Indian state has become a mute witness under the leadership of power-hungry politicians who are working feverishly at their electoral equations for the coming elections. They want these wounds to fester.  They see a positive political pay-off  in all this. This is what Indira Gandhi would do. She would play the politics of divide and rule and put up dummies to cut her opponents down to size. This was a major flaw in her character and policy that led to the creation of Bhindaranwale in Punjab.

She also had a positive quality. Her decisiveness. When it came to  supreme national interests, she would not compromise. She would act ruthlessly without fear or favour. That is what is needed in Maharashtra to contain the MNS miscreants and the Thakares. They have become a threat to our nation now. They have lost their minds. This intellectually deficient family wants Maharashtra to be turned into another J&K, with a separate constitution, consisting of their idiotic edicts. They need to be warned now that they have crossed the limit and the state is ready to act and they and their goons would have to pay a heavy price for their misdeeds.

What enrages me the most is the way these traitors use the name of my great ancestors like Shivaji, Tilak Maharaj, and Savarkar and keep insulting their ennobling and energizing legacy of intense nationalism and patriotic fervour. And that is why we must resist these contemptible pretenders in thought as well as action, guided by the spirit of Chatrapati Shivaji, Tilak, Savarkar, and all our great ancestors. With the blessings of Maa Bhavani victory will be ours.

Jai Bharat, Jai Maharashtra, Jai Uttar Pradesh, Jai Tamilnadu, Jai Dilli, Jai Arunachal, Jai Bihar…..Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Deshbhakton ki vijay ho, desh drohiyon ka naash ho.  Jai Bhavani. Vande Mataram. Har Har Mahadev.

RKS

An Appeal from Prakash Jha

Punarwaas
FLOOD RELIEF MISSION, BIHAR.