Thackerays’ Marathi Maanus theory kicks up controversy among parties

More politicians and political parties join issue with the “Marathi Maanus” (son of the soil) theory of the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), who both have given call recently to regard Mumbai as belonging to Marathi Maanus only, stirring up controversy.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said on Monday that Mumbai “belongs to all Indians” and every one is free to work in the city. Rejecting the “pernicious thesis” of the Sena and the MNS, which are spearheading the ‘Mumbai for Maharashtrians’ campaign, he said the Maharashtra government was competent to handle the situation. The Centre would offer help, if needed.

“This is a pernicious thesis, and it will have to be rejected. Anyone can work and live in Mumbai,” Mr. Chidambaram said. The Minister’s statement came on the heels of the Shiv Sena and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh taking on each other over the issue.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s oldest partnership with the Shiv Sena came under severe strain with BJP president Nitin Gadkari making it clear that the party could not go along with the ‘Mumbai for Maharashtrians’ campaign of the Sena and its breakaway group, the MNS.

Mr. Gadkari said his party would uphold the constitutional right of every citizen to reside and settle in any part of India. This was the basis for its objection to Article 370 conferring a special status on Jammu and Kashmir.

There were regional, linguistic and other identities of people but they all “converge into the larger identity of Indianness.” There could never be or should be a conflict among these various identities, Mr. Gadkari said.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had also said earlier: “Mumbai is for all Indians … nobody can prevent Indians from moving to any part of the country in search of employment.” Mr. Bhagwat’s comment followed the former RSS spokesperson, Ram Madhav’s statement in Jabalpur that the Sangh would try to prevent the spread of anti-north and anti-Hindu sentiments in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra.

The rift between the two partners became apparent as Sena leader and former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi lost no time in responding to Mr. Bhagwat when he said it was time to “remind the RSS that Mumbai belongs only to Marathi people and they should get priority [in jobs in the city].”

In the mean time Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy challenged Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray to first demonstrate the Thackerays’ are genetically different from the rest of Indians, before making claims of exclusivity for the mythical distinctiveness of the Marathi Maanus.

In a statement, he said ``the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) call to regard Mumbai as belonging to Marathi Maanus has no credibility because the Thackeray family’s DNA is the same as mine and UP residents’’.

He revealed he had this recently tested in a genetic clinic in Hyderabad based on hair samples from their hairdressers.

Commending the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for showing statesmanship and true Hindutva by declaring all Indians as children of Bharat mata, he said that every inch of India belongs to all patriotic Indians, irrespective of region, religion and language.

Swamy further said the Marathi language has 70 per cent of its words are taken from Sanskrit. Hence it is like any other Indian language.Even Tamil has 44 per cent Sanskrit words. Moreover, the script of Marathi language is Devanagari, which is part of Sanskrit.

Thus, the Thackerays should give up this ‘wild goose chase’ of Marathi-ism and talk about Hindutva instead, to unite all Indians against foreigners and terrorists, Dr. Swamy said.

- Asian Tribune -