Mind Your Language

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It's time all across India that schools changed their syllabus. At least as far as languages go. And parents insisted that they do that.

French and Spanish may help your child prepare well to be a global citizen, Sanskrit may make you feel they are in touch with their roots but it's Marathi, that will get your child a ticket to the future, closer home.

That is if they want to be in India, central India to be more precise, struggling hard to make a living or if he/she fails at securing admissions in a university abroad.

For, if schools refuse to make curriculum changes then they are only setting stage for their wards to have a limited future. A future, that will be governed by the boundaries of the states in the country. One, that will have a chance at shaping into real perhaps only in the North of India or at best in few other states outside of Maharashtra. For Raj Thackeray is making sure that happens.

At least he's trying where he can.

If you are not Maratha, overtly patriotic about the Maratha spirit and whatever else it stands for, speak, breathe and live Marathi then Raj Thackeray's Mumbai will not let you be. It's a little like George Bush's philosophy.

Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists... A thought, the civil society loved to berate. And responsible citizens of the world furiously keeping their existence alive on the internet even declared him the most hated man in the world. But civil society will keep quiet about matters closer home. It will let a small time struggling politician who is of little value minus his famous Uncle, and his Uncle's by now famous surname, get away with it.

Civil society has learnt to stay silent. Only poor Ms Bachchan didnt know that. Pretty much like her now wise husband, she must have thought in a democracy you can express your thoughts. Not in Mr Thackeray's Mumbai. Mr Thackeray can't allow that. Unless of course, your love for Maharashtra has passed his litmus test.

For Mr Thackeray is saying it clearly, you can't be in Maharashtra and not be patriotic towards the Marathi Manoos ideology. You can't be in Maharashtra and not wear your love for Maharashtra on your sleeve.

You can't be in Maharashtra and not know Marathi. If you do that then there is little else that Raj Thackeray will allow you to do. And Raj Thackeray like any other upcoming mohalla goon is doing it the right way. Striking at the big fish so that the message goes hard and clear down to the masses. Fear and blackmail work well with this section. So if you strike at an Amitabh Bachchan (and have the other superstar of Hindi films, Shahrukh Khan be threatened and accused by another like minded political party, the Shiv Sena) and ensure with your motley group of goondas that film posters are torn down and theatre owners threatened with dire consequences, then the aam aadmi sits scared at home.

Thinking if Amitabh Bachchan has not been spared then `God Save Us.' It only works better for the likes of Thackeray in scaring the aam aadmi when mother ship Shiv Sena jumps in to threaten another big star, Shahrukh Khan for being a Dilliwallah. Rabble rousers and those dabbling in the politics of fear and division will only be happy if more people join their misguided agitation.

So, while they go about threatening and vandalizing, its best, that the otherwise alive aam aadmi, together called the civil society stay quiet. And that is exactly what Raj Thackeray wants Ms Bachchan to do. He will spare on effort in making digs at the Bachchans, even threaten them, but they must not answer.

Raj Thackeray may have reason to hate the Bachchans. And if it is Raj Thackeray, let's say that the reasons are also valid. Let's also give Mr Thackeray the benefit of the doubt and believe him when he says that the Bachchans have done nothing for either the Maratha Manoos or Maharashtra.

But can Mr Thackeray deny that it is hitting out at Mr Bachchan and gimmicks such, which has given his small time political party an instant identity?

Can he deny that part of the reason his press conferences get covered by the media is because he chooses to lash out against someone who commands huge popularity the world over? Can he deny that had it not been for an icon like Bachchan there would have been few takers for Thackeray's mindless statements? All said and done, Thackeray needs to thank the Bachchans for his extensive coverage in print and television media.

Maybe he should even think of working in tandem with the Bachchans media managers since much of his publicity is riding piggyback on their fame.

Of course there is no denying that Mr Thackeray works hard for it. He works hard at instigating people, urging them to get violent on the streets of Mumbai, he slogs at framing hard hitting sentences that shake up the sleeping giant within the Marathi Manoos and bring them out on the streets to pelt stones and beat up innocent people, he practices his offence and makes it shriller by the day, goes an extra mile in threatening people who are generally going about their own business in life.

All of that needs serious hard work and doggedness, bordering on an obsession. Raj Thackeray sure works hard to put all of that together. And it is also paying him.

Raj Thackeray speak can hardly be ignored anywhere today. You have to hear him out even if you silently don't agree with him. And remember, in this case particularly, silence is gold. You may not like Raj Thackeray. May not like what he is bullying you into doing. But don't tell him that. He sure has much more to tell you. And none of that will be pleasant.

So while Shah Rukh Khan begins to prepare to forget that he once grew up in Delhi and Jaya Bachchan starts reading up on Section 153B of the Indian Penal Code, to understand what the MNS activists have booked her for, I just find it hard to believe that we call the likes of Raj Thackeray political leaders.

Ironically, at a time when political leaders like Barack Obama wind up their nomination speeches with, "God bless the United States of America," bringing together an entire nation under one prayer, China urges an entire world with: "One World, one Dream", another attempt at unity, we have politicians working harder at polarization and division of people.

And while politicians will decide the destiny of most, I am only wondering which state identity can I possibly rally for?

A Mewari Rajput from Rajasthan, born and brought up in Dehradun, once a part of Uttar Pradesh and now Uttarakhand, working in Delhi. The future for me, it seems is bleak. One, where I possibly can't belong anywhere. Suddenly, Manto's Toba Tek Singh seems more than real to me.