First the uncle, then the nephew. India’s most cosmopolitan city, Bombay, is being destroyed bit by bit by cartoonists in the name of “reconstruction” of the Marathi ethos. If old man Balasaheb Thackeray turned anti-South Indian sentiment in the 1970s into a cottage industry, and then stirred the communal potion as and when required, Raj Thackeray has looked north at the turn of the century.
In targetting poor migrant workers and taxi drivers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in demanding that all signboards be written in Marathi, in threatening those who refer to “Mumbai” as Bombay, Thackeray is going down an old, familiar route in the name of the Maharashra Navanirman Samithi.
Now, the tiger cub has gone for the jugular, “banning” the movies and posters of the Bachchans—Amitabh, Abhishek, Jaya and Aishwarya. And a boycott of all products endorsed by them.
The provocation? Jaya Bachchan’s comment at a music launch: “Hum UP [Uttar Pradesh] ke log hai, isliye Hindi mein baat karenge. Maharashtra ke log maaf kariye (We are from Uttar Pradesh and will speak in Hindi—Maharashtrians will forgive us),” which Thackeray and his thugs construe as an “insult” to Marathis.
What is the one question you are dying to ask a cartoonist with a morbid sense of humour?
Photograph: rediff.com (digitally altered)
Also read: Where you see Marathi, replace it with Kannada
Since all the problems have been solved, let us…
‘Parochialism offers an easy resistance to change’
churumuri 
Jaya Bachchan might as well have said, “Aa bail, muzhe maar!”
India’s politicians/media are forever wallowing in non-issues.
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dear churmuri
You must ask a few questions to your own Narayana Gowdas and Praveen Shettys before asking one to Thackeray…..
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Raj T is just like another dog barking in their backyard, trying to get attention. This guy has got no right to question anyone about Marathi language when his own son has shunned the language for some foreign language. He should understand that Hindi is national language as per constitution and there is absolutely no reason to be penalised for using your national language. Mumbai is the Commercial capital and it is just a geography that it is in Maharashtra. Nobody has any right to block or force anything like language on any Indian citizen in any part of India. Anyone who does this should be prosecuted under terrorist act.
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Raj Thakeray Sahib, can you please jump into the Arabian Sea with two 10 KG dumb-bells tied to your legs??
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This clarification is being provided for the umpteenth time, at an umpteenth number of forum to an umpteen number of people. Hindi is NOT the national language of India.
The rest is quite meaningless currently.
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Did you shoot the dog that bit you or call it “Uncle”?
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India is becoming a Princely state!!! Language and religion divides us!!!
These Thackereys are also responsible for the riots and many unlawful killings and deaths in that state. Media was mum and quiet when all that happened!!!
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Could not understand why Raj T was expecting Jaya B to speak in Marathi in music release of a Hindi Film. I dont think he would have a problem had she spoken in english. Anyway, its nothing to do with language war. Jaya belongs to a party and it might be her ploy to vow UP, Bihar migrants voters for the coming election.
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Why on earth does Jaya Bacchan nee Bhadhuri keep offering provokation? It isnt like she is an activist for the cause of Hindi- she simple is another muddle-headed politician who needs to be advised to talk a bit less or not at all :)
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Mumbai is absolutely a victim of Hindi Imposition…
While the Constitution of India accords the status of “official language of the union” to Hindi, its uncontrolled and unwarranted imposition on innocent speakers of the language of the land outside the walls of central government offices is perhaps on an all-India high in Mumbai. Over time, the Marathis have been made to give up their own identity as speakers of a separate tongue called Marathi which is the lawful heir to the throne at Mumbai. Instead, Hindi has usurped that throne.
Bollywood itself – the Hollywood of erstwhile Bombay – has no traces of the Marathi language left in it. The word Bollywood which should ideally denote the Marathi film industry is famous world over as the Hindi film industry. Hindi imposition seems to have worked such magic on the Marathi people that they seem to have given up hope of elevating their mother tongue to be the entertainment language of choice.
Due to all this, the Marathis see that their language has been thrown into the dustbin. They see that their own people are not getting jobs in Mumbai. They see that the interests of their own people are neglected. While Mumbai is no doubt providing employment to millions of people, they are forced to ask — “what’s in it for us, the hosts?”. The answer manifests itself as an undisclosed pain in the hearts of millions of Marathis.
Obviously, this can’t go on for ever. No people desirous of furthering their tribe can afford to yield to the rhetoric that they, and they alone need to be altruistic in an environment of reckless predators, however much the rhetoric be sugarcoated and temporarily fooling.
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Rajnish,
Given a chance, northies like you will brand everyone who doesnt speak hindi and behave boorishly as terrorists.
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Those who think Raj is “parochial” must first understand that the scope of events pertaining to the sustenance of any linguistic populace is far from being narrow. This particular time, it is about a People called the Marathis — close to 65 million people! That’s not a few people, mind you, and the protection of the rights of millions of people of one tongue is not parochialism. If this were parochialism, our cries as a united India in the community of nations in the world is parochialism too. Why shouldn’t one call as parochialism India’s need to protect its borders from Pakistan? Isn’t the protection of India from Pakistan too “narrow in scope”?
Now, all those who are sticking to the single-point rhetoric that the recent events are “politically motivated” have also the obligation to ask themselves as to what it was which has motivated the imposition of Hindi on Marathis, what it was which has motivated the uncontrolled migration of Hindiwallas to Mumbai to the total detriment of the Marathis, what it was which has motivated the feeling that Marathi is the language of a lesser God inside Maharashtra itself! Wasn’t that motivation also “political”? It is utter foolishness, nay hypocrisy, to expect a spiritual response complete with fasts-unto-death from people at the receiving end of decades of neglect.
Thus, while the events in Mumbai this week appear on the surface to be “parochialism” or simply “politics”, one just needs to scratch the surface to understand that they are the bitter fruit of decades after decades of disrespect towards the Marathis, their language and their land. We need to understand the reasons for such outbursts without sacrificing reason to hackneyed rhetoric, set right historical wrongs and march forward. That is the right path for the progress of every Indian state, and thereby of India.
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rajaneesha simha avare,
this type of buffalo diplomacy which regurgitates cud like ‘hindi is the national language’ is what starts all this in the first place.
cosmopolitanism is a two way street. we learn something from you, you learn something from us.
agar aap UP ke log hein, jinhe hindi ke ilava kuch aur soojh ta nahi to taap krupaya UP mein basar karein.
daccan mein rehne ki apni maryaada hein. exactly the same way as ganga taT par rehne ki apni maryaada hein.
aap hindi mein bhi jaroor baat karein, par dhyaan mein rahein ki hum woh log hein jinhone mughalon sein Takkar lee. aise ghamanDi lalkaarein hame ek doodh peete bacche ka bhaas deti hein. iss tarah ki chesTa hamne hazaar dekhi aur jheli bhi hein.
hindi aur mughalon ki seema hum deshiyon ne paanch hazaar saal pehle narmada ke uss paar te kee hein.
shakya hein ki aap ke damaag mein aise republican vichaar na utare. aise samayaon mein, inn klishT prashnon ka saraL upaay yeh hein ki aap daccani-yon ki chaaritric vivekon ka maryaada karein.
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Rajnish Singh…
well said. But at the same time, one should respect the local culture and language. Even after staying in Mumbai for so many years. Ms JB says that she is from UP and thus alienating Maha. Though I do not agree with MNS ways, Bangalore is suffering the same state. People in spite of being in Bangalore for so long, do not consider Bangalore as their home. They are insensitive to cultural identity of the localites(sic).
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@ Rajnish Singh
“Hindi is national language as per constitution”
I ignorant can anyone be???
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Pseudo Secular politicians like Jaya Bachan, Raj Thackarey,Narayana Gowda, Vatal Nagaraj who inflame passions should be put behind bars.
If a strong secular India has to be built, then these guyz should be punished for such statements.
Linguistic parochialism is as bad as religion based communal violence.
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Hindi is RASTRA BHASHA and in my opinion all indians including RAJ THAKRAY should learn HINDI. iF he doest want to learn hindi then send this idiot to Pakistan. Because he is against national language thus against national interest. Maharastra CM should resign on this issues if he remains actionless. Bloody spineless politicians.
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Yarappa idu maharaaya,Hindi is national language annonu..swalpa sari tilkondu comment bariri.
First of all why did jaya gave such statement in Maharastra..If she is from UP,let her go to UP and talk her language..
it wrong on jaya’s act and there is no pointing in supporting it.
Bereyevra manege hogi,nande nedibeku andre sumne irthara…..every state is unique and have thier own culture and language..Be Roman in Rome antheera …why not be kannadiga in karanataka or Marathi in maharastra..
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Arrest this guy and put him in jail.
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Anyone who criticizes Raj Thackrey must also condemn Jaya Bachan for her comments. She was well aware of the tension between the Bacchans and Thackrey. She is an MP from UP, was she trying to woo her voters in UP or just trying to tease Thackrey, I don’t understand. Her party is now a part of UPA and hence she has the audacity to make such coments taggetted against all Maharashtrians. I think its high time for all non-hindi states to unite and ask the central govt :
WHAT IS OUR LANGUAGE POLICY ?
There should be a debate and the matter be settled once and for all. Otherwise, this question will keep coming back to haunt us again and again. Even today politicians say Hindi is our national language in public. That is the root of all the problem……
I also feel that Bollywood is a misfit in Mumbai. It should slowly and steadily relocate to Delhi, Lucknow or somewhere else……..
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Raj has gone nuts.
Now, what prompted Jaya to say what she did? Where was the occasion and need to be provocative? Undisputedly every Indian has the ‘irrevocable’ right to go, settle and earn an honest living any where in India. Of course – Kashmir is not included courtesy Chacha Ji.
I do not necessarily agree with Raj- at least on this issue- but the moot point is why only Biharis infest all the Metros in such a Huge no? Why other North Indians like Punjabis, Haryaniavis, Rajasthanis, Himachalis etc. do not emigrate?
Blame it on Laloo and earlier Congress regimes.
Blaming Raj alone for this ( I have been vocally against him) wont serve the purpose, rather would help him more. Equally guilty are e ones like turncoat Sanjay nirpum and terrorist friendly Abu Azami. Does this writer of post suggest they are ‘innocents’!
Finally, I too find Jaya’s statement unnecessarily provocative.
Both Jaya and AB have lost more than they could gain from associating with a person like Amar.
Wise people said, “A man is known by the company he/she keeps”. Certainly Amar Singh is the one I would keep my family away from. But then, may be AB and Jaya are either not ‘Prudent’ or are in some ‘too much debt’ to people like Amar.
What a mighty fall!
PI.
Ps: For Biharis own self esteem, do not overreact to what a ‘Nut like Raj’ say at the same time, do create opportunities at home. After all, no body would move out from home leaving family and kids behind to do some ‘menial’ work. Bihar – originally Vihar – was the most well governed state no so long back.
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And Churumuri, stop writing “BOMBAY”. Please use Mumbai. When Bangalore’s name changes to “Bengalooru”, what are you going to write?
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Hindi is not the ‘National Language’. It is the largest spoken language in India (based on number of people) but there is NO obligation to learn Hindi as per the constitution.
But, Raj Thakeray and his ilk should remember that there are n number of Marathis in Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta, etc. etc. who are working for Civil Services, Military, IT companies, banks, etc. Migration and resettlement is a fact of life. What if the Delhi-wallahs decide tomorrow that Marathis should be targeted and driven out of Delhi? What if Kannadigas decide to beat up Marathis in Bangalore?
Mumbai has a unique identity of its own, and that identity has developed over the years by a mix of several people – Gujaratis, Tamilians, Kannadigas, Bengalis, Biharis, Jains, etc. etc. etc. They are ‘Mumbaikars’. Raj Thakeray has no right to target people who have contributed to the city over the years.
And Jaya Bacchan is either an idiot or a very wily politician. Its almost as though she was ‘asking for it’ deliberately.
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Talking basics (again)… it is quite interesting to note that many state-capitals of Indian states, which apparently are not Hindi speaking states, are subject to this center’s hegemony and Hindi imposition.
Owing to the capitals’ direct interaction with the Center, and the various central govt. offices that invariably get installed in these capital cities, Hindi has become a “naturally, shoulder shrugged” spoken language of the capital. Just take a look at Hyderabad of Andhra, look at Mumbai of MH, and look at how Bengaluru is becoming in Karnataka. I am told Chennai too is catching this fever and there’re pockets of Hindi vote banks already created!
But the unfortunate thing is – it doesnt stop within the capitals’ boundaries.. Infections spread, beyond the capital city limits, reach state interiors, and soon, Hindi syndrome is all over many districts around the capital..
So let us not infer strange myths out of these underlying facts. I am saying this because there’re people who say “almost every soul in HYD understands Hindi… so whats your problem if Andhra is called a Hindi state?” and so on.. Please cut the crap, I say. This is the game central govts. after govts. have been playing. Catch the state where it matters, insert the Hindi virus there, and then watch the virus spread to all places in the state. This is simply unacceptable, especially in a federal setup like ours.
So in the wake of this churumuri blog, I would say Churumuri needs to think with eyes wide open.. If Jaya Bachchan (or any goddamned Hindi movie artist) can say that she will speak in Hindi (in public) even while in MH, it is but a step taken towards hastening the decaying of our federal setup of linguistically formed states. When such a move is made by anyone, it is but responsible citizenry to condemn that and oppose such actions in all possible ways.
It is unfortunate that Churumuri has resorted to calling people who want their language to survive & thrive in their state as thugs – simply unfortunate, and derogatory as well.
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Why say this – http://www.ibnlive.com/news/jaya-bachchan-cracks-a-joke-mns-isnt-laughing/73050-3.html
And then say this –
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/sep/09jaya.htm ??
Obviously shows something missing between her ears.. and also between the ears of some bloggers here..
I dont know why churumuri folks want to fantasize so much with whatever the hell the Bachchan family (and its bollywood ilk) utters in the Marathi state. I dont understand why you always begin to think these people are right, and then succumb to reason (fortunately) and realise that they weren’t!!?
Anyone saying that he/she WILL NOT speak the language of the state (even if he/she could afford to) is well against the interests of this nation and its integrity and this move warrants punishment – which the state itself has to order. But unfortunately here, the state is sleeping and is nearly dead because of the Hindi virus its infested with.
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@ Vinay,
“Migration and resettlement is a fact of life” – says who? and whose life (lives) are you talking about? Please clarify.
What you’ve misunderstood here is that the MNS wants to kick non-marathis out of MH. All they’re saying is all the non-marathis inside MH should strive to join the main stream and become a marathi from a non-marathi, at the earliest. And if one insists against this, then they’ll have to face the wrath, and then join the main-stream – yet not talking about alienation, unlike your imagination!
If migration and re-settlement is a way of life indeed, then it ought to incorporate cultural migration as well – as in the people that migrate into an alien land need to become like the people of this land in due course of time, and not remain in their own isolated pockets. Least, even feel proud of this and protest against joining the mainstream. Its just not the right attitude, thats all!
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When we talk of migration there are many kinds. One the migration of skilled work force like professionals etc, like in the case of bangalore. Here, there is a need for migration if u want to create a center of excellence where the industry can get all the required talent in a city. This category has to migrate. Another is the unskilled workforce like watchmen, taxi drivers etc. Here the govt should strive to ensure maximum local participation. This is the class that can communicate ONLY in hindi. If “othes” come and take such jobs in Munbai where will the local unskilled labour go ? They will have to migrate again. This sets up chain of migrations. One more caetgory is the govet employees, this group has never been of any problem bcos they always adjust we have seen this for the last 60 yrs and this problem is a new one.
One more point to note is : There is a problem only with norht indians in south, where as south indians who go to norht quickly learn the local langauge and adjust.
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Nijavaada:
In the past, the MNS is known to have boarded local trains and asked people their names. People with non-Marathi names were abused, insulted or shoved around/beaten. No matter how ‘Marathi’ I become, I cannot change my name.
My job might necessitate travel every few years (a very common phenomenon, especially in Government agencies in India). I cannot learn Marathi for the first two years, Tamil for the next two, Bengali after that and so on.. if my job involves speaking in English, I will stick to English in office. Outside office, I will very well be able to manage most chores with a basic broken knowledge of the local language (when people can manage for a few months in France and Germany without learning more than a few words of German and French, they can do so in Indian states as well). And I would certainly not want kids to learn, and write exams, in different languages every two years.
If a migrant comes to Bangalore for a couple of years or so, I would expect him to be able to say simple phrases like, “Jayanagar Baruthiraa”, “Ondu kg rice Eshtu” and so on.. I would not expect him to become an expert at Kannada literature. Replace Kannada with Marathi/Bengali/*. On the other hand it is wrong of a migrant to expect everyone on the roads to understand Hindi, and respond in Hindi by default.
You cannot look at a person’s face and decide if he is a long term settler, a brief business visitor, or a tourist. Several politicians or quasi politicians play this language card simply to gain mileage, very few of them really have any love for their language and culture. They send their kids to a so-called ‘International School’, and publicly flaunt their local roots and ‘love for the local culture’.
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Shameful.
So many negative comments for this post.
That is what happens when one posts without reason and logic.
>
Bombay, is being destroyed bit by bit by cartoonists
>
Firstly it is Mumbai. and secondly, up and bihar migrants have been instrumental in doing this destroying act. remember the india’s most fantastic infrastructure was been built by vision and efforts and support of these cartoonists.
>
which Thackeray and his thugs construe as an “insult” to Marathis.
>
so according to you, whoever agrees to thackeray’s view on this issue is a thug.. mm. interesting. I know another person who thought same “other people having views which do not match with mine should be eliminated”,, Hitler…
Grow up. the people commenting here have shown more reasoning and logic than you.
Again..
Shame…
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jaya bachachan herself accepted that she is from u.p…dat clearly means she is a guest in mumbai/maharashtra…if so…behave like a guest…dont cross ur limits..or else…go to u.p…n act in bhojpuri films…n yes…even tho we r maharstrians v speak hindi that u.pites speak…can u speak marathi? no…then shutup…dont tom tom bout hindi…we respect hindi more than u.pites do…
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Nobody questions Balasaheb.
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Nijavaada,
While I agree with you that local customs, language and above all people must be respected, I don’t see how any of what Raj has been doing can be defended. What Jaya said wasn’t prudent but isn’t there a possibility it was inadvertant, she didn’t think it through, that it was spur of the moment?
If you see such an innocuous utterance as a great conspiracy to impose Hindi and bring down our federal structure then you must believe the world is going to end tomorrow as soon as they start that Large Hardron Collider tomorrow in Geneva.
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The Bombay I grew up in was like the most desirable beauty every human wanted to live with. The Mumbai of today is a whore that everyone is raping day in and out extracting all her beauty of yore. If the Thackerays and their Senas are sure that Mumbai alone in Maharashtra is being destroyed by non-marathis desparate to change everything, I dare them to walk into the Indian Army, Naval and AirForce locations within Mumbai and make the same demands to evict non-Marathi speaking soldiers. When they and their Senas have their balls hanging upside down by a thin string courtesy the Indian armed forces, they will realise we are Indians first and then regional chauvinists. I dare them to spend 90days around Maharashtra in their political strongholds to undertake well organised and widely televised debates from 9am to 6pm everyday with non-Marathi speaking personalities and working class individuals of Mumbai alone. They can then do a poll of the same locations and evict any section of non-Marathi society that fails to prove its point – we are all Indians in Mumbai without whom Mumbai has nothing and Sena will not exist.
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Good point nijavaada. we should ask all our kannadigas who have migrated to US to join the mainstream of US. I now understand why most kannadiga who have migrated to US dont let their children learn kannada as they have joined mainstream of US. I am sure beef, gay marriages, teen pregnancy will soon become their own culture for them.
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By the way why do we talk, write n read in english. Is it official language of any of the Indian state?? is it national language of India??
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@Rajnish Singh ans Pritam
Hindi is not “The National Language”. It is just one of the national languages. Please check the constitution.
@Vinay
>Hindi is not the ‘National Language’. It is the largest spoken language in India (based on number of people) but there is NO obligation to learn Hindi as per the constitution.<
First part is right. Second half is wrong. It is not the largest spoken language. You will be surprised (even I was surprised), it is Telugu which is largest spoken langauage in India.
@Nijavaaada
Sariyagi helidiri
—
>What’s wrong in speaking “national language”?<
arorgance in display!.
Similarly What’s wrong in expecting people to speak in regional languages say ‘ Kannada’, Telugu, Marathi etc?
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Guyz,,,,
Why r u all burning your mid-night oil trying to debate such a emotional subject ?
The CM,PM,Home ministers of both central and state in the respective place do not seem to care for this pseudo secular charade.
No amount of chest beating can solve this problem…..
But of course a capitalist game like Cricket can warm your hearts for sometime as Indian….. but alas…then again… post the match…
You have these hooligans uttering passionate statements in favour of their mother and father tongues….
Violence erupts…. tongues get wagging….. It happens only in India….
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Dr. Sree Reddy,
Hindi is the language spoken by most in India. Check the 1991 census figures here:
http://www.languageinindia.com/nov2001/1991Languages.html
I don’t think its relevant to the discussion here though. Its about spirit of accomodation and respecting the rights constitution confers on its citizenary.
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@Vinay,
What u say is right, it is completely wrong and unpardonable that MNS is physically attacking indivisuals. Hindi proliferation will not stop by attacking few taxi drivers, nor will it help Marathi. They must identify what are their issues with the visitors ? Essentially its a language problem. So they should fight and remove the myth that Hindi is our national language. Once this myth goes away half the problem will be solved……
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@Annonymous
It is manufactured ‘magical numbers’.
They have included various independent language speakers and said that.
It is like grouping all Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Koorgi, Tulu, Konkani, Thoda etc speakers together and giving them a common name.
That’s all.
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Dr Reddy, i think u were talking about Benguluru. Telugu might be most widely understood language in Benguluru. As far as world is considered, Hindi is third most spoken language in world. Only other indian language in the top 10 list is Bengali.
http://listverse.com/miscellaneous/top-10-most-spoken-languages-in-the-world/
Just to correct ur data. Nothing related to this discussion.
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@BB@B
You are absloutely wrong!!
I am not talking about Bengaluuru. My data is based on the linguistic census, not on any fancy websites creates by sarkari naukars or free- time-killers. Hindi speakers will say it is the most widely spoken lge in India. It is absloute lie. Yes, if you club, himachali, rajasthani, punjabi, kashmiri, pahadi etc you can claim Hindi as the widely spoken lge etc.
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Dr. Sree Reddy Says:
These are not manufactured numbers. They only merge the numbers of what are essentially the dialects of a language. Grouping Kannada with Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam etc. will be a blatant misrepresentation. Telugu isn’t even second, Bengali takes the second place.
Though as I stated earlier, these numbers are only peripheral to the discussion.
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Dr. Sree Reddy Says:
“@BB@B
You are absloutely wrong!! I am not talking about Bengaluuru. My data is based on the linguistic census”
Care to post the links Dr. Reddy?
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Dr Reddy, can you provide any data to your claim that telugu is most spoken language in india.
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In India telugu comes after Hindi (in all its dialects) but if u consider the whole world it’s bengali after Hindi….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu
Wiki does not have any citations but the margin is too huge for any ambiguity. Whats the issue otherwise ?
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i am marathi manoos i am in working with the bolloywood if the industry plans to go out of mumbai what will happen to thousand of marathi manoos who house run on this raj thackeray r u listening or you have become buddha before age
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@ Raj Thackeray & Everybody else
Since Hindi has already percolated enough why not we just sustain and grow it as a national language? We can speak our mother tongues within our households.
By dousing the vernacular fire within us, we can help our next generation to unite under one umbrella. Our next generation, or the one after that, will not have to fight like us about languages on blogs of their times, but spend their time on much more serious and pertinent issues.
This need-to-change issue is most troubling to south indians and south indian states as they were the front runners to retain English as one of the national languages. But has the time arrived where Hindi has successfully entered our lives convincing us through its music, movies and most shows on TV? Aren’t we all secretly looking at most things bollywood–good or bad?
Perhaps the only two states that will find itself in a mouth-shut situation would be keralites and tamils (Karnataka esp north KA has a great hang over hindi and AP is long been a hindi-aware state). Mouth-Shut situation, though, hasn’t made them backward but forced their enterprising ones to move across the country–speaking almost every tongue fluently and surprising the nation.
Others like the non-hindi aware parts of KA & AP will have to cope up a little, but if the others follow the trend then they’ll follow it out of compulsion or spirit of nationalization, may be.
@ Nobody
Hating this (Above) school of thought and not willing to give up your local tongue means you just force yourself to learn that language of the land where you work/play or have fun!
Call it compulsion or spirit of nationalism we win by playing this way even. After all who wouldnt like a kid who can speak yours, yours, and yea even your language?
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Churumuri,
Why don’t you write a single word about hindi imposition??
If you think,, there is nothing called imposition is happening, then can you explain me the following phrase from Union Govt’s Rajabhasha site?
Link: http://rajbhasha.gov.in/annualeng.pdf
Phrase 1: While the visibility of Hindi in the Government Offices has increased, substantial work is still being done in English. The objective is that Hindi only be used for original noting and drafting. This will be in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution. Needless to say that doing official work in the peoples’ Language will speed-up development and also bring transparency in administration.
Question:
So, People means hindiwalas and people’s language = Hindi, what about Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi etc?? Language spoken by Dogs and Cats?? or spoken by aliens??
Phrase 2: Necessary steps should be taken to get scientific and technical literature prepared in Hindi by the concerned Departments and made available for the use of Public.
Question:
So, Any scientific and technical literature done in non-hindi language is just a piece of sh** ? So, a maadegowda or a kenchai from KA should first learn Hindi to publish any technology related findings to get any grant from Central Govt?? Is this the way to promote Science and Technology in our own yard?
Phrase 3: The candidates should have the option to answer the question papers of all the in-service, departmental and promotion examinations (including all India level examinations) of all the ministries, departments of the Central Govt. and its attached and subordinate offices and of all corporations, undertakings, banks etc. owned or controlled by the Central Govt. in Hindi. The question papers should compulsorily be set in both the languages (Hindi and English). Wherever interview is to be held, the candidate should have the option to answer in Hindi.
Question 3: So, even for a group D post ( requires 8th std pass) in railways,, a rural folk in KA should master spoken and written hindi to write the exam. Remember the great Hindian injustice at group D recruitment at KA, last year, where a 8th pass Kannadiga was asked to fill his application ONLY in hindi and English and even the write the exam only in HINDI and english. So, this is the way to give justice to all subscribing states of Indian Union. So, this is the way to practice Unity and Diversity,, what bull crap !!
Phrase 4: So long as the prescribed targets regarding Hindi typists and Hindi stenographers are not achieved in the Central Govt. offices, only Hindi typists and Hindi stenographers should be appointed.
Question: Wow,, I should join a Hindi typing class !! Kannada typing sucks man !
Phrase 5: The officers of IAS and other all India services are imparted compulsory training in Hindi during their training in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, so that they could make use of it in official work. However, most of the officers do not use Hindi in their official work after joining the service. As such officials/employees working under them do not get the right message. Consequently, Hindi is not used in official work to the extent required. It is the Constitutional obligation of senior officials of Ministries/Departments/ Offices/Undertakings to make increasing use of Hindi in their official work. This in turn will motivate the officials/employees working under them, thereby giving impetus to the compliance of the Official Language policy.
Question: Am speechless, churumuri !!
Hindi imposition,,, what’s that ??? idu enidru namma kendra sarkara namma unity gaagi maadtiro praythna.. hail India hail !!
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Jayaprakash Hegde, Central Govt does not belong to anyone, neither their prsence is felt by common citizen. We need strong local governance. If our local governance is not promoting Kannada, why should we blame central govt. Can we start a discussion on how many of our MLAs are kannada lover. Let central govt choose whatever language they want to communicate among themself but they should talk to us either in english or kannada. ( english is getting benefit by the language war among indian states ;-))..
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According to the 2001 census, Hindi speakers are only 29% of the total population of India. Even if the numbers are >90% and if it is troubling the existence of diversity in India and troubling the existance of other languages and cultures we should throw it out of India…
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central govt. is spending crores and crores of rupees on hindi imposition.. and just look at their plans here… http://rajbhasha.gov.in/annualeng.pdf
Karnataka is identified as region ‘C’. that means that we are their target now…
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@columnist
What was wrong in Raj’s action? You come to another state and exhibit regionalism, then complain the locals to be regional.
What sort of logic is this?
and @ bytwo anna sambar Says
what do you want, state clearly!
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Jayaprakash,
You say… “Necessary steps should be taken to get scientific and technical literature prepared in Hindi by the concerned Departments and made available for the use of Public”
Why? why should they? whats the need…..already the language is available in english and the objective should be to bring the technology and knowledge in Kannada to help crores and crores of Kannadigas.
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I just love these “Hindi is the national language” nitwits. :D
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Kishore, I dont like this stuffing of Hindi down our throats but for the record the 2001 Census shows Hindi speakers at 41 % of the population ( 422 million out of 1028 million ) which is a decadal growth of 28 %. its another issue that this is reflective of poorly controlled population growth in the Hindi heartland rather than any true spread of Hindi across the country.
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My conversation with a guy from UP who just came back from Chennai.. (My batchmate actually, a typical arrogant northie who thinks they are the greatest people and should be worshipped on a pedestal)
He: What a place is this Chennai.. No one talks Hindi there. Its almost like being in another country.
Me: Why should they speak Hindi there?
He: Its part of India. And all Indians should speak Hindi.
Me: And why is that now?
He: Hindi is the national language
Me: Its the official language. And that too rules made by oxymorons
He: They should speak Hindi
Me: Dude, you cant force things upon people. Do you speak Kannada or Malayalam in Kanpur?
He: Thats not required. Since they are only secondary languages
Me: (Getting a little hot) Does that mean we are secondary citizens? Who appointed you guys as primary citizens??
He: Gandhiji and Nehru said Hindi should be the national language
Me: Do you know what their mother tongues were???
He: I guess Hindi.
Me: (exasperated) Gandhiji was a Gujarati and Nehru a Kashmiri Pandit. You guys all have the attitude that others wherever you go must adopt to your ways. Why the hell cant you try to learn any of the other Indian languages? I know all the four south indian languages, plus Hindi and Urdu. Why cant you? And the Hindi you talk is half Urdu Lucknowi Hindi. So should I call you a Pakistani now??
He: I dont want to talk to you. You Kannads are all the same.
Me: I am a Malayali. And its Kannada. Not Kannad.
He: Its all the same. Kannad, Malyali, Taamil.
Me: Its not the same. No wonder you guys are the worst developed in the whole country. You dont KNOW your country. Hindi is not India. please understand. Hindi is just part of your inflated ego that requires to be blown up wherever you go and feel like you should be served. Change that or go back to your backward state. No one is asking you to stay here.
He: I will see you in a different way.
Me: Yeah sure. Just try. F*** off
I guess this very much explains it.
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Vadakkus,
If your batchmate did indeed talk like that you did well to respond to him the way you did. However, based on that to say:
“(My batchmate actually, a typical arrogant northie who thinks they are the greatest people and should be worshipped on a pedestal)”
and deduce:
“I guess this very much explains it.”
is akin to saying all that live south of Vindhyas are Madrasis. Please don’t be as ignorant and judgemental as your batchmate.
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@Vadakkus
Brilliant.. !!!!
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Anony,,
Am not genaralising here. .9/10 northies behave this way.. I have seen them in Chennai,, in Trivendrum, in Bangalore,, every where,, the same behaviour..the same arrogance..
mind you, can you imagine a Tamil or Kannada island in Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal??? Any southie who goes there, makes it a point to learn hindi and become a part of the hindi mainstream, but expecting a similar gesture from a northie in south, gets termed as Parochial, Fanatic and what not !
Wow,, what a federal setup we have !! Hindia Rocks !!
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Vadakkus,
Okay I belive you. My personal experience (Bangalore only) has not been so bad. Only a handful are arrogant.
Well sure there are areas in Delhi (don’t know about other places you mentioned.) frequented by people from certain regions. For example Munirka in South Delhi is full of Tamilians mainly because of the excellent tamil mess there. Most of them speak only Tamil or English. But I’ve never found any of them to be arrogant or any Delhiite telling them to learn Hindi. Its all handled in good natured fun actually.
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if its essential to adopt a national language, we are more than happy to accept English.
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The Senas are engaged in proving to the natives that they are the only people interested in upholding the values and interests of locals. All acts are with the intention to win the hearts of the locals, which will sway from one sena to the other.
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These bunch of moron cannot build anything but are ever ready to destroy what has taken time and sweat to build. One look at Raj Thackrey and he looks like a goon. We do not have one leader in this country who can think beyond his vote bank.
And, reading the comments here, I’ve become sure of one thing, this country deserves its bunch of corrupted leaders who are hell bent on dividing the country.
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@vadakkus :
Brilliant dude……..
@oocharna
All indian languages should thrive and not die with our generation.
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I just knw one thng… watever jaya did was utter foolish and disrespectful to the people of maharashtra and maharastrians that stupid lady shud b thrown out of maharashtra into UP wer she can milk the cows or herself graze the land …if u hav earned ur money and fame on this land so better ….respect THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE with full integrity and honour or GET OUT…
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Raj T is just like another dog barking in their backyard, trying to get attention. This guy has got no right to question anyone about Marathi language when his own son has shunned the language for some foreign language. He should understand that Hindi is national language as per constitution and there is absolutely no reason to be penalised for using your national language. Mumbai is the Commercial capital and it is just a geography that it is in Maharashtra. Nobody has any right to block or force anything like language on any Indian citizen in any part of India. Anyone who does this should be prosecuted under terrorist act.
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“The Senas are engaged in proving to the natives that they are the only people interested in upholding the values”
rightly said.. as a Hindi speaker would help a Marathi local to get a job..
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I think we are mixing too many things together which gives an impression that Hindi is the language of arrogant people. I have a very different feeling. I find most of the Delhites are arrogant. No matter what language they speak, it will be full of arrogance..for them its confidence. I agree that delhiites are very enterprising which makes them confident in whatever field they choose. I think Sehwag batting style is a typical example of being from Delhi. They treat non-Delhiites as looser, no matter whether u speak hindi or not.
People from UP and Bihar normally have poor english, we can not expect them to become expert in any another language than Hindi. Even Hindi is not their native language. Most of them speak maithili, Santhili, Awadhi, Bhohpuri, Magadhi at home. For them Hindi is business language like we have English here.
I havent met anyone from UP/Bihar who were arrogant, though they rarely attempt to learn any new language as they focus mostly to improve their english.
Mumbai is very different, I find them very very practical. I don’t know if any one of us have seen spokeperson from shivsena speaking on News channels, they consider Hindi as national language, b at the same time can not accept Marathi as language of bacwardness. They can speak better Hindi than people from UP/Bihar and they feel proud of their knowledge of Hindi. What they dont like is un-culture behavior of Biharites.
Marathi can not oppose Hindi as Bollywood/TV/Advertising in Hindi is bread and butter for many marathi families. They can not oppose Gujrati also though most of the Gujrati businessmen speaks only in Gujrati in Mumbai. reason same..bread n butter for many Marathis. Gujrati are the backbone of Mumbai’s financial capital character.
Now final point, what does Raj T wants?? I guess consolidation of marathi speaking vote bank.
Why does Jaya provoke Raj T?? I guess consolidation of Hindi speaking votebank for Mulayam Sing Yadav party.
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Hindi being the largest spoken language is juts a myth.
annonymous and others
Bihar, MP. Rajshthan, and many parts of north has large number of tribes who have their own language and cultural identity. The policy makers forcefully brand them as Hindi speakers. How can they be Hindi speakers and why should their identity be denied??
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Hindi is the language that binds all the indians together. But we are fighting on a very nonsense issue. We all are Indians and we should be proud of it. Hindi being the most used language in India should be respected and those who can’t respect it, can’t respect India.
” Saare Jahan se achha Hindostaan Hamara ” So be proud of being an Indian. Its ok to uses and glorify our regional langauges but it shouldn’t be on the cost of insulting other languages specially Hindi.
Jai Hind
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@arvind, you are all wrog. in fact, it is hindi which is dividing indians. and your equating respect for hindi to respect for india is the attitude non-hindi people are seriously concerned about.
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“Hindi being the most used language in India should be respected and those who can’t respect it, can’t respect India.”
We have another arrogant in the thread who is just like any other Hindian who claim that those who can’t speak Hindi/or respect its imposition on them are anti nationals..!!
Dude.. hindi is only dividing the nation.. its better to avoid it than utter anything in Hindi.
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@arvind
>> Its ok to uses and glorify our regional langauges but it shouldn’t be on >>the cost of insulting other languages specially Hindi.
Why Just specially “Hindi”…No Lanhuage should insult/oppress/erase any other Language. Pls observe a language doesnot get created Overnight…A language represent the heritage/culture of one’s land which would have take so many centuries to evolve….We should be happy for that fact that we have so many languages each one of which is Unique and Culturally Rich. So, when One Language is trying to insult/oppress the other… U r trying to Oppress the Selfness of the One getting Oppressed…which is “truly” Un-ethical.
Point here is, We all like Hindi. But if u tell us to Spk only Hindi OR Suppress/Oppress us because u are from Hindi Ruled States OR insult becos one doesnot know Hindi… Same will be given back.
As S.Manohar quoted above “All indian languages should thrive and not die with our generation.”
Now, u name me as a Kannada Fanatic…Is it not!
:-)
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Raj has shown his frog type attitude who sees well as the whole world.if he thinks by speaking marathi ,conditions of marathis will improve,i doubt,they will remain where they are & they are at mercy of businessman who have come outside from maharastra & made maharastra stand at its place.mns fellows only love to booze/real bewraas,doing nothing except hafta vasooli,extortion,bhaigiri etc. This man is playing cheap politics, if u want to get attention suddenly, target high profiles & u will be in limelight.so is case with raj.
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Why are we even discussing a coward called Raj who can never step out of the confines of his backyard. The focus of a lot of these hard working North People (especially the Taxi Wallas, Vendors etc.) is to simply work and take care of their family within limited means. The reason why they do not bother is that through their meagre income they have to support their family back home. The day even one of these guys snap…I am not sure where will Mr Raj Darpok thakrey hide. I have heard that the day there (this was stated by one of his own Ministers) used to be a change in the security staff of Thakreys they won’t step out of their house..Brave people
Mumbai belongs to everyone. While everyone should respect Marathi (irrespective of whether they live in Mumbai or not) as fellow brothers, staying in Maharashtra never means you have to mandatorily speak Marathi. While we know about the laborers from Bihar, UP,,,some of us are probably not aware of the fact that right from Bureacracy, Creme de la creme’ of Government jobs (top to bottom) as well as IIT’s IIMs, Medicine (even in top colleges of Mumbai) are swamped by People from Bihar, UP. They do not have a regional language and that’s why it’s difficult to identify them. Also they identify themselves with India and not with a state…
Please stop discussing COWARD Raj Thakrey who has inferiority complex. Mumbai Film Industry as well as all other jobs are open to everyone…and whosoever deserves, has talent and right attitude will get it irrespective of whether he/she is Marathi, North Indian or South Indian. My closing remark nee suggestion for Mr. Raj would be to not provoke these people
I still remember once Lalu Yadav has challenged that the Thakreys come to Bihar and host a meeting / rally, while he did the same in Mumbai…Mr. Thakrey willing to even step out of Maharashtra…forget about coming down to Bihar…where people are so genuine that they will protect you as ATITHI and will respect you and take care of you
Also rather than making crores in real estate etc…do something good for your own people. This Country does not belong to Raj Thakrey only
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What a logic NI’s give… Settle in rome, respect rome but never speak roman..
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Two things…
1. Jaya is not from UP…she is not even an original Hindi-speaker…so why was she sucking up to the UP wallas by identifying herself as one of them?
2. Speaking in Hindi is not offensive….but rubbing it in to the Maharashtrians…is not just offensive but sinister.
In fact, if anything, as someone who has earned her bread, butter, halwaa poori from the state …and continues to do so….one must feel apologetic for not being unable to speak the language of the community which you call home.
It is not only Maharashtrians who should find Jaya’s remark offensive….so also should Bengalis, as Bengali is her mother tongue.
It’s one thing not to be able to speak the mother tongue and the language of your resident state, for whatever circumstantial reason, but proudly being unapolgetic about it to the people whose language it is…..unpardonable.
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Let’s say I come to Delhi & said ” I am from Maharashtra & so I will speak in Marathi. Delhiites please furgive me” What will be reaction from any average Delhiite. Will it be ” Yes go ahead & speak in Marathi , I will try to understand it” or will it be ” Please speak in Hindi as I don’t understand Marathi “. Now replace Maharashtra, marathi, Delhi, Hindi with any language, location you want say TamilNadu, Andra, Assam, France, Germany any imaginable you can. At any example it shows arrogance of the person who goes to other land & try to communicate only in his own language. Now one important point here to note is Jaya Bachchan is residing in Maharashtra from atleast 40 yrs & not a person who just landed in Maharashtra, She is come here on her will & not forced to come here, her mother tongue is Bengali & not Hindi. She learned Hindi for her proffetional need. She is MP & try to bring bill in parliament to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra so her intentions are clearly against Maharashtra from long time. So these are not innocent comments like some person from China comes to Mumbai airport & say ” I am chinese & can only speak chinese or English so please pardon Maharshrians that I can’t speak in Marathi”. She is public servant & don’t have sense what kind of comments one should speak in press conferance. So she should have told to press like ” I like to speak in Marathi but my Marathi is poor & I feel that I can’t fully convay my thoughts in Marathi this time or this press conferance is about Hindi cinema so I will prefere to give answers in Hindi. No harm to marathi.” Problem I see not about speaking Marathi but the arrogance she shown that I can stay in Maharashtra & can say anything bad about Marathi & no one will dare to oppose me.
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No Maharashtrian should respond to any of these bloggers here. I guess they do understand what the issue is but they are pretending that they haven’t clearly understood the issue so that they can portray Raj Thackeray the way they want and create a vague, ambiguous picture which only makes things worse. Writing blogs is good but only if it reaches the one who understands the stand of Raj, MNS & the Marathi Manoos.
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i am a 8th std girl. i was very disturbed by the riots and all when biharis arrived. but if a tragedy like mumbai happens in bihar & if they come to our statr for help will u do the same?
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Shri Raj ji,
namaskar
The ‘Marathi agitation’ is quite understandable. I fully support the basic thinking behind it. In fact it needed to be started much earlier. To our great disappointment, Shivsena dropped it from their ajenda. May be we defer about the way things happened; i point out at some mishaps.
Once regions were demarketed on basis of language, the state people must be given priority in all the aspects of life.
But I have a point to note.
Is this the time to start all this(marathi agitation)? Specially when we all are facing a great threate from Islamic hard liners. Agrassion and arrogance is increasing every day. Congress rule is vertually a Muslim rule. There is nobody to support Hindus.
They(muslims) can give “bang” five times every day, but a religious procession can not pass by the mosque.
They are given money for Huj, but Hindus pay “yatra Kar” for every such “yatra”, including Amarnath.
Six acres of land from Tirupati can be given for Idgah, but no land for Amarnath.
Why money(“arpan from Hindus in the temples) from Hindu Temples has been taken away and given to mosques & churches?
How many Temples awaiting “Jirnoddhar” have been taken care of by govt?
We, all Hindus, together need to fight against this anti Hindu govt & muslim “dharmandhata”.
We are looking at you with hope to take this issue with top priority & great argency and stop the “musalmanikaran” of India happening at very fast speed.
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respected raj sir,
i have lot of respect for you in my mind. so , had sent you a question. i thuoght you will reply but you dident reply. then whats the use of your website. on television you said that you will reply to the questions. but u dident reply. you came little down from my eyes. now also i request pls reply. my question is- if a terrorist attack takes place in bihar, that time will you do the same thing if they come for help?
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the problem in India is that we have 3 language system. HINDI, ENGLISH and ANY OTHER REGIONAL language. This has created a lot of trouble and has been a bone of contention for ages.
WHO made HINDI as OFFICIAL language of India?
constitution, right.
NOW who created the constitution ?
Mr. B. R. Ambedkar. one ignorant dalit manoos from Maharashtra.
He devised our constitution in such a way that we are suffering even today.
MR. M K Gandhi, Mr. Nehru, Mr. B. R. Ambedkar and some others like Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak, Swami Dayanand saraswti who advocated and pushed Hindi as a national Language. Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak was the first from Maharashtra to say that HINDI in a Devanagari script should be the national language. He with the help of his educational society pushed devanagri script as the primary script for marathi. Marathi was originally written in MODI script. Gujarati is written in this script. These people tried to destroy ENGLISH in the name of freedom form British and today we are facing such a terrible situation where Hindi has become a center of our debate. Almost all of marathi people happily accepted HINDI because they wanted to align themselves with north indians and Gujarati. To Marathis, South Indians were aliens and this mentality exists even today.
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mr. kulkarni, how can you say that tilak declared or prompted the declaration of hindi as national language??
tilak never said so. in fact gandhiji was the one to declare hindi as national language.
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i strongly feel that these people and there organisating are just promoting the theory of a separate nation in order lust of gaining political power. They are of none neither maharashtra,nor india. These base people are just pursuing their self interests in name of service to people to gain there support. There moves must be curbed .This organisation is just more threatening than Simi and must be banned .
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I don’t i completely don’t understand this agenda of Marathi manoos. We are living in a single secular state that gives one nationality to all people. What if all states and their people start raising the voice like up manoos.bihar manoos blöody hell what a cheap concept. I want to make it very clear that India i or let it be any country doesn.’t develops due to any state ,any religion or any caste ,A nation develops through it’s people the honest devoted foreshisted hard working masses . So instead of wasting there valuable time and energy in these worthless matter. the organisation should think how to develog the infrastructre of Mumbai ,ways to generate self employment and employment among people. Remember you dignified people India has many issues such as naxalites,bodos,simi,pakistan,china to deal with. Don’t be a addition to the list me problems if you can.’t help in Solving them. It’s a genuine request . Jai Hind. .
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