Why thrash them. Kill them.

An auto-driver was thrashed in Mumbai for speaking Hindi. A Marwari shop-keeper in Vikhroli was assaulted for “insulting” Marathi by conversing in Hindi. Another restaurant-owner was beaten up in Mira Road for his inability to speak Marathi. A security guard in Powai was slapped for his lack of knowledge of Marathi. One Rajshree More was threatened with violence for posting a video purportedly empathizing with those who do not speak Marathi and her car was rammed into repeatedly by another car driven by drunk son of a MNS leader. Another young girl was stopped on the road and heckled for conversing in Hindi. A former parliamentarian is alleged to have called traders of his area to his office and got his goons beat up those who couldn’t speak Marathi. Multiple videos have surfaced on YouTube where MNS goons are seen heckling men and women who don’t speak Marathi. Hoardings were put up across Mumbai warning the citizens who don’t speak Marathi. Another video in YouTube showed a woman who, much to the chagrin of her women hecklers, declined to speak Marathi.

All this by the goons of an electorally inconsequential (but politically over-rated for its nuisance value) party called Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), with not so much in-your-face support by Shiv Sena (UBT). Scratch the surface and you will find it’s not their love for Marathi language. They want to showcase these incidents and build a false emotive narrative before native Maharashtrians, hoping to earn their empathy to remain politically relevant. Why else would they always make videos of the acts of street-violence and proudly post the same on the social media.  

These incidents did create ripples in the silent waters of Mumbai. Whilst some had questions as regards the need to learn Marathi, some found an opportunity in it to stay relevant. Let’s inventory some related statements.

• If you wish to live in Maharashtra, you have to speak Marathi. If you want to go to assembly, you will have you take oath in Marathi. Raj Thackery (MNS leader).
• Hindi is a good language but it is not a national language. Rashtra bhasha was never decided. Raj Thackery. (A misleading statement as the Article 343 of the Constitution of India provided, way back in 1947, that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script).
• Bash them up but don’t make videos. Raj Thackery. (Sharing the pearls of his wisdom on street-violence in a public meeting).
• Raj Thackery distorted Nishikant Dube’s (a BJP leader) avoidable statement wherein he had targeted Raj Thackery who mischievously tweaked the sentence to change it to “Marathi logo ko log patak-patak ke maarenge” to make it sound ominous for entire Marathi citizenry of the country.
• Hanuman Chalisa is Awadhi not Hindi. Raj Thackery. (Fearing that his diatribes against Hindi may have negative politico-religious implications for him).
• Will speaking Marathi get us education, employment ? (A disgruntled youth on YouTube).
• Start teaching Marathi in madrasa instead of Urdu. Nitesh Rane (a BJP leader).
• Mumbai has become Pahalgam. They are asking us to speak Marathi the way the terrorists asked the tourists to recite Kalma. (A Mumbai resident on YouTube).
• In keeping with his juvenile ways, Rajdeep Sardesai (a journalist past his use-by date) tried to corner Priyanka Chaturvedi (a non-Marathi, Shiv Sena UBT leader) by asking her to speak in Marathi, doubting her familiarity with the language. He landed with a dozen rotten eggs on his face when the lady started conversing in Marathi.
• Some people embrace English but create controversies for Hindi. Devendra Fadnavis (Chief Minister of Maharashtra).

Interestingly, there is a video in wide circulation of Uddhav Thackery’s birthday celebrations where his wife, his son and his well-wishers can be seen and heard merrily singing a popular birthday song baar-baar din ye aaye, baar-baar dil ye gaaye, tum jiyo hazaron saal, ye meri hai arzoo. Last I knew, the lyrics were in Hindi. Another video shows Raj Thackery speaking in an event, with Ajay Devgn (film actor) in attendance, in a familiar language.  Lo and behold! It was Hindi. 

Not much of consequence has been said by the politicians of all hues on this lawlessness. Evidently, to avoid antagonizing their respective political constituencies. The celebrities (with the exception of the Bhojpuri actor Nirahua), as expected, kept their mouths shut as Shiv Sena and its off-shoot MNS have a history of making lives difficult for those who speak their minds out. Thankfully three advocates mustered up enough courage and filed a PIL in the Supreme Court against MNS / Raj Thackery. But one is yet to see any substantive action by the State Government. Making a mockery of the laws, a few of these goons were taken to the police stations but allowed to walk out happily after giving an undertaking that they would desist from such violence in future. It appears that the administration and the police and have been incapacitated by their political masters into inaction.

Let’s get curious.

Do they beat up Muslims whose ancestors moved to Bombay in the 19^th century and who decline to speak Marathi. No. Muslims have a sizeable population of 21% in Mumbai and their response to such situations is always collective and too formidable for these goons to target them. How about Sikhs. Despite being a minority (0.5%), the Sikhs have earned themselves respect for their brains and brawn. Any such mischief with Sikhs will find these goons having too much on their plates. What of Christians (3%) or Parsis (probably 0.02%) in Mumbai. No, baba. Christians and Parsis are too classy for these goons and above their paygrade too. Their language preferences, stereotyped by the Bollywood, are well-known and conceded by the citizenry in Mumbai. What adds to the unattractiveness of these two communities to indulge them in street violence is their near-total absence from the street politics of Maharashtra.

Who are we left with now. Buddhists (surprisingly 5%), Jains (4%) and Hindus (67%). People from these three communities cannot be separated from one another in terms of appearance & attire and are often clubbed together. As a block, they are easy targets. Disaggregated, their vulnerabilities are nuanced. Buddhists are generally working-class, temperamentally peaceful and find themselves at the receiving end as much as Jains or Hindus. Not-so-rich Jains, owning small to mid-size shops, are slapped around and video-graphed for a demonstration effect. As regards Hindus, security guards, autorickshaw & cab drivers, street vendors, house-helps, daily-wagers and a-hole-in-the-wall type shop-owners from Bihar and UP are preyed upon. These goons do not have courage to target Jains or Hindus up the ladder.

Let’s add to their list of targets.

Staying true to their stated cause of Marathi language, these goons should target the Hindi film industry, large corporates, banks and central PSUs based out of Mumbai which have sizeable human resources who don’t speak Marathi.  Let them throw out producers, directors, actors and technicians involved in Rs. 12,000 crore Hindi film industry. They should kick out large corporates run by Parsis (Tata and Godrej: revenue Rs. 8,60,000 crore) or Marwaris (Aditya Birla Group, Essar, Hindalco, Bajaj, JSW and RPG: revenue Rs. 9,50,000 crore) or Gujaratis (Reliance: revenue Rs. 7,20,000 crore). They can jolly well add banks to their list (SBI, RBI, ICICI, HDFC, Axis, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, IDBI and Union Bank: combined revenue Rs.41,00,000 crore). They should also banish from Mumbai large PSUs (Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum: revenue Rs. 6,00,000 crore). But they wouldn’t. These are milch cows, contribute hugely to the state’s economy and generate employment. In the contest between the cause and the moolah, it’s the latter which invariably wins.

Ever wondered why, all of a sudden, the street violence against Hindi-speaking citizens has resurfaced. On the face of it, it’s the recent government resolutions mandating Hindi as the third language (besides Marathi and English) in Class I to V which are touted as the reason. If making Hindi a third language was a threat to Marathi asmita, the violence should have stopped by now as the resolutions stand withdrawn. But the violence continues. Obviously, there is more than that meets the eye. Could it be to supplement the depleting political fortunes of the Thackery cousins. Immediate prompt being the upcoming municipal elections in Mumbai.

For the uninformed, in 1947, the Constitution of India laid down that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. Like it or not, this is how it is even today. The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution currently lists 22 languages, including Hindi. Interestingly, English doesn’t form part of the list.  In 1947, English was allowed to continue for 15 years. Later, in 1963, a constitutional amendment allowed indefinite use of English, in addition to Hindi, in the Indian government until parliament decides to change it.

Hindi is spoken by 44% of Indians. The next five most-spoken languages are Bangla (8%), Marathi (7%), Telugu (7%), Tamil (6%) and Gujarati (5%). All those who hold the opinion that Hindi is the language of the Union of India only, represents only limited geographies and needs to be replaced by any other language, should mobilize parliamentarians and work towards amending the Constitution. Not beat up people who speak Hindi.

It doesn’t take an Einstein to conclude that for anyone who wishes to make a living in Maharashtra life shall be lot easier if one has, at the least, a functional knowledge of Marathi. Take the case of all-India services (IAS, IPS, IRS etc.) or people in the financial services (banks, insurance etc.). They learn local languages as their work involves public interface, and lack thereof shall hinder their work. For those targeted by these goons there is no business case to learn Marathi incrementally. They have been able to manage their work and lives with a few sentences here and a few there in Marathi. Can their sub-colloquial knowledge ever disrespect a rich language like Marathi. Is their limited repertoire of Marathi language a compulsion of their endless pursuit of livelihood (which leaves them no time to learn more of Marathi) or an expression of defiance. All sane persons know the answer. One would be keen to know if these political parties (which have multiple outfits all across the city of Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra) have ever run programs themselves (or pursued the state or the local bodies) to help people learn even elementary Marathi. I am ready to bet my balls, both of them, that no such initiative has ever been taken. Why? Well, thrashing hapless people is an easier option.

As a reasonably well-informed Indian, I refuse to take lessons from these goons on the importance of Maharashtra, Maharashtrians and Marathi language for India. I am better informed than most of them. My Marathi language repertoire may be very limited, but it sees me through the rides in local-trains / cabs / autorickshaws or order bhel / vada-pav / missal-pav or banter with friends / colleagues / bar-dancers or curse the traffic / humidity / waterlogging in Mumbai. I have voluntarily studied the life and times of great rulers, warriors, religionists, reformists, scientists, litterateurs and industrialist from Maharashtra and their roles in shaping up social, religious, cultural and economic milieu of our country. But I have consciously stopped expending my energies on are the hidden agenda of politicians of our country. Maharashtra included.

Mask, muffle or metaphor the politics underlying the language issue, beating up people is still an illegality in India.   

(Data, other than revenue figures, are drawn from the Census-2011).