It is actually neither Jaya’s nor Raj’s fault in the crazy spat the two got involved in. Mrs Bachchan lives in a democracy (or so we believe), and has every right to express her feelings. If she connects with UP more than other states, well, too bad, that’s her choice. It’s like you can’t hang me if I say I prefer pakwan daal over puran poli despite having lived in Maharashtra practically all my life.
And I don’t blame Thackeray Jr, cos he’s forever looking for these situations which assure him the perceived Marathi vote bank. That’s a no-brainer, the man needs opportunities to strike, and he’d be stupid to let go of such a juicy one. So all he did was stick to building his own brand. And I believe he’s onto a good thing, I got a taste of that inside a television showroom yesterday. Raj was addressing a press conference and all the zillion TV sets were beaming that live. The Marathi manus salesmen forgot all about selling, crowded the sets, and rejoiced and gloated over Raj’s victory of having ‘taught the Bachchans a lesson’.
So all that’s cool. To me, the two parties that have emerged villains of this tamasha are one, the state government, and two, the print media. Let me explain.
The Deshmukhs and the Patils need to act swiftly and effectively on all goondagardi, whether actually executed or threatened. That they keep looking the other way each time Raj lets loose his goons, is a dereliction of their paid duties. There are two reasons why this happens. One, their own fears that by targetting Raj they could antagonise the Marathi manus. And two, they don’t want to rock the possibility of an alliance with the MNS at some point. That they keep their political interests ahead of their jobs (which we tax payers pay dearly for), is what pisses me off.
I don’t read the Marathi press, but I am appalled that editors of the English press aren’t coming down heavily on the state government for its total inaction. Unless the media puts serious pressure on errant ruling netas, the entire concept of democracy becomes a joke. I suspect the proprietors and editors of newspapers don’t wish to offend netas they regularly need for licenses and approvals.
Anyways, one thing I know is this: Encouraged by the Bachchan apology, Raj is now going to go all out to create trouble at the slightest chance. And the only sufferers will be we, the aam junta, who get caught in the crossfire.
Moral of the story: Privately, I shall enjoy my pakwan. In public, I shall claim to be passionate about the poli.
Jai Maharashtra!
17 comments:
The real villians are us, the cosmopolitan urban Indian sitting around meekly letting this blatant parochialism run unfestered.
You can't even choose to speak in Hindi now? Hindi is the national language of this country. Now the regional takes precedence over the national?
Kiran
Haha i could not agree with u more. Its a sad state of affairs, sadder still is that people are getting away with murder and nothing is bein done about it. Im not a follower of any certain community or religion, but i will be truly disappointed in mumbai if im made to. Why cant we all just live and let live. There are a million other important issues which require our time, effort, energy, mind, money. Have we seriously got nothin better to do than bother about such petty issues? So much for living in a secular and democratic country. I fully support jaya, and consider this thakeray as much of a threat to my freedom as the other thakeray.
And they call Mumbai the most cosmopolitan city of this country!! It is the trouble of the Indian middle class, we just don't want to have anything to do with such 'issues'. We would rather steer clear of any lafda. These MNS goons and their ilk will keep ladling out such shit to us if we don't raise our voices.
Mumbai is a melting pot of all cultures. People from several states have come to realise their dreams here. As your post has rightly pointed out it is to win the backing of the local Marathis "their interest" is being "safeguarded". I have lived here all my life and I know for sure that the common man is not a fool to be done in with this kind of hogwash. I agree that vandalism is growing due to the inaction of the police and state government machinery. Anyone can take law into their hands and get away with it without any action! It is really sad.
hey,
this issue has pissed me no end and though i wil try to be as brief as possible, i wont promise that ;)
i agree with ur stand by and large.... though i do feel that by shooting her mouth off obviously rather thoughtfully and certainly not innocently as claimed, she asked for trouble....whoever calls jaya's remark 'innocent' needs an IQ check acc to me! saying that we are from india and since hindi is our national language we shud speak in it is very different from sayin we shud speak in hindi cos we are frm UP! she obv was takin off on all the past attacks on them.... and she knew exactly what she was doin!
and the so called apology (justified or not is another issue altogether)is not obv cos they are feelin bad.. they may be seething inside but they cant afford this shit at a time when 2 of their fly members'movies are at stake and esp given that offlate their movies havent been doin great at the BO! acc to me Mr Bachchan is a far better actor in real life as opposed to reel life.... maybe its time they do some more pujas to appease the gods or planets up there!
as for Mr Thackerey as u put it he needs this stuff every now and then to make his presence even more felt and foolishly this time the Bachchans gave it to him on a platter... he certainly can have the last laugh here...
as to where the politicians and the media is concerned, well the less said the better.... we honestly have hajaar more imp issues to look at and turn around but no, we will take the most frivolous stuff and give undue attn to it and make it a headline..... everyone seems to be doing their job here but a rather commercial one at that!
Firstly, knowing that the MNS and their leader are just waiting for a chance to prove their might (?), Jaya Bachchan should not have made that comment. Having said that, I agree totally with you. We live in a city where all languages are spoken, and Hindi being our national language, I think we should be encouraged to speak it.
I agree that we should be allowed to exercise our right to speak in any language that we choose to. Having said that the woman Jaya suffering from a perpetual foot-in-the mouth syndrome should'nt have preceded it with a a not so innocuous statement, spiced with a contemptuous chuckle. Really so unrequited.
Raking up a controversy finally doesn't affect neither the vile politician nor the servile celebrity.. the one who bears the brunt is us the common man...Schmucks....
Yes,Anil u r so right.Democracy in our country is becoming a joke and we, the aam junta is to be blamed. We allow the Deshmukhs and the Patils to look the other way. We should rub their faces in the mess they create by not acting fast.
Raj Thakeray acts as though he owns our state and we let him continue with that. How can any language be thrust upon people in a democratic country?
And Raj of course feels that this issue is so so important. Definitely more important than our farmers commiting suicide, our infrastructure breakdown, the craters called potholes that plague our roads and another million things that we put up with even after paying our taxes.
Not that I ma siding with Jaya B. It wasnt at all an innocent statement. Evrytime we talk in Hindi do we go around saying why we r talking in our national language?
Kamal
Jaya should learn to eat dal pakwan privately and appreciate puran podi in public otherwise she has no right to be in politics...you are absolutely right Anil the real culprits- the government and the media are going scot free cant we do something about this? Atleast u r doing ur bit expressing fearlessly thats on ur mind. I really appreciate that. Rita Som
Dear Anil
There is no shade of doubt that the Bachhan Family is the most reputed and respected family, not only in India, but all over the world, but let's not forget that they too are humans who do err at times.
I am not a Raj supporter and do not endorse his party's views, nor their actions/reactions to the entire Jaya episode. The entire media has already highlighted their wrong doings, which I need not repeat and yes, I do agree that they should not go un-punished.
However, at times, the media, the politicians and the film fraternity are also to be blamed for making an issue out of a thing, which is really not the case, and delibrately delete those words of the statement, which is really the issue.
As we all know, it takes two hands to clap and let us try and understand what really ignited the fire. Let us try to analyse Jaya's statement and try to get the perspective of the other side also:
"Hum U.P. Ke Log hai, Hum Hindi Me Baat Karna Chahenge. Maharashtra Ke Log Hume Maaf Kar De."
I don't think that any Maharashtrian or Mumbaiite has any objection to any body speaking in Hindi, which as per the Media and all those who appeared on the television blame Raj and his men for creating the ruccus. What really hurt them was the latter part of the statement, "Maharashtra Ke Log Hume Maaf Kar De."
The Bachhans claim that there was no motive, when the statement was made, then why that sly giggle from Ms. Bachhan, when she added the latter part of the statement?
According to Ms. Bachhan, She committed no crime when she made the statement and she has already asked for the forgiveness from the people of Maharashtra, at the time of making the statement. Well if she has not committed any crime, then where does the question of asking for someone's forgiveness arise??? And then why ask for forgiveness from people of Maharashtra only and not from Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu etc. where Hindi is seldom used in day to day life?
Jaya's background is from West Bengal, so how can she claim to be from U.P.? Is she not degrading her own home town by claiming herself hailing from U.P.?
I am not a Maharashtrian but was born and brought-up in Mumbai, so I feel proud to be called a Maharashtrian. The Culture of Maharashtra and it's people dates long time back and the people here have always been good enough to welcome, accomodate, educate and give job opportunities to a lot many migrants in to this state.Most Maharashtrians belong to the Middle Class and have never bothered to make bags of money, but all that they really own is the Maharashtrian Pride, and when some one tries to attack the same and hurt them in any way, the Middle Class Maharashtrian will always come to the forefront to defend the same.
Rajnikaanth also is a Maharashtrian and lives in Chennai & Bangaluru, but proudly calls himself a South Indian, then why do People like Bachhans feel ashamed to call themselves Maharashtrians, it was after all Maharashtra, a state which made them the Big Stars that they are today??? This same Rajnikaanth, no matter how big a star he is down south today, also erred by hurting the sentiments of the people from Karnataka, when he made statements on the Cauvery Waters. No body made it an issue then, when the same Rajnikaanth, out of his magnamity, appologised to the people of Karnataka. Amitabh too was magnanimous in appologising on Jaya's behalf, but why is the media making a big issue out of the whole thing?
All said and done, this endless debate will always continue and it is for people like us to think and ponder if Ms. Bachhan has faltered or not...
Regards
Uday
Hi Anil,
How is that you did not write on the BURNINGS going on in Orrissa?
No time, or it;s just irrevalant/not an issue, or worse still share
Advani/Togadia's views.
I am not writing this as a Christian, but as a Human being.
We Indians should be on top of the world, as we have everything,
brians, money and what not. India Shining with poverty on the decline
(slow), but the real reason we cannot be up there is because we like
to pull one another down. We will do anything for money. Money is our
God, therefore we kill even our Female, so that the money remains in
the Family. We kill others to make money for 100 generations, knowing
very well that when we go UP, we can never take all that SHIT. That's
the reason we have Brothers fighting Siblings for what their Parents
have illegally possessed
by looting fellow Indians.
I could go on and on, but will not bore you as you very well know our pulse.
Regards.
Norman
Hi Anil!!
What about Amar Singh?? One almost felt Jaya's silly utterances could well have been orchestrated by him though it is too far fetched to imagine that!! After all, reportedly the Bachchans have publicly gone on record for having been indebted to him for having bailed them out through their bad times and pledged
their allegiance to him haven't they?? And even if at times they are good Samaritans, politicians are known to emphatically ask for their pound of flesh at some point of time, aren't they?? All those stupid election campaign ads that Amitabh did eulogising of all the States- UP, Jaya joining of all the parties Samajwadi Party, then becoming an MP ---- don't all these appear acts of compulsion from otherwise a level headed couple that the Bachchans are known to be?? For all one knows, it may well be Amar Singh who may be laughing all the way through the tamasha that Jaya's comments triggered!!
Should I say, Jai Amar??
Regards
Anjum
hi all,
i observe one point being made right through: that Jaya's initial statement, which caused all the trouble, was politically motivated and uttered deliberately. yes, that's possible. however, and i don't hold any candle for the bachchans, even if it was motivated and thoughtful, she is still allowed to express herself freely in this land (since what she said isn't illegal). the indian constitution guarantees her that right. so in my books she did no wrong.
anil
Raj is being glorified by the media far more than required. Jaya no doubt has a big mouth for which amitabh has to keep apologising.
Each one is doing his or her part for their benefit, like Raj is gaining momentum for his vote bank, while the bachan family says a sorry to get away because of their new releases of two films.
awsome write-up...........i agree
Dear Anil,
While I agree with you that Jaya has all the right to express herself freely in this land, then is it fair to pass a gag order on Raj and deprive him to express his views in public? I still condemn the actions and reactions of Raj and his Party, but the rules of the land need to be applied uniformly across the country.
hi uday,
you have a point. the problem is, raj's many utterances are against the law of the land. like kicking and shoving migrant workers, like making comments that divide the fabric of the nation and are blatantly racist... so legally speaking, a gag would come into play.
regards
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