Editorial

Editorial: Praise Everybody, Not Just Big B

It’s really surprising, MNS supremo Raj Thackeray praising Hindi Cine Star Amitabh Bachchan even if he’s doing so because Big B has announced to support and promote Marathi flick ‘Harishchandrachi Factory’, this year’s Indian entry  for Oscar. If Raj is to be taken seriously, the entire hullabaloo his MNS has created over ‘sons of soil’ vs ‘outsiders’ should draw to a close here. His party’s charge all along has been that outsiders have led to unemployment among locals and that they don’t respect, belong as much to Maharashtra and everything Marathi as they do their own state or culture. The fact that Amitabh Bachchan, whom he accused of having loyalty more to Uttar Pradesh tan to Maharashtra last year, has vowed to promote a Marathi movie negates his own accusation. It brings home the point that even outsiders are as strong a building block to development of Maharashtra and the regional culture as Marathi people are. But has Raj actually comprehended this, or, has he done so merely to fulfill a political necessity to be publicly perceived to be gentle towards someone who is contributing to Marathi cinema? Whatever be his objective, while pleasing Marathi people in this way, he owes at the same time the responsibility to make it clear that how would he, from now on, react to two different things: one, an outsider settling in Maharashtra for a job; two, an outsider supporting and promoting and contributing to regional development in any way? You cannot carry stick for one in one hand and flowers for other in the other.

Today, it’s Amithabh Bachchan, an actor, tomorrow there will be other celebrated outsiders who will naturally contribute to state’s and culture’s development. As he has appreciated Big B, Raj perhaps will laud their efforts, too. So he should sit back and seriously think about the issue

The above question is more so significant following just concluded assembly elections in which he successfully polarized Marathi votes in his party’s favour by harnessing local resentment and harping on unemployment. Looking at these two opposite phenomenon, outsiders, even outsider to this whole controversy, would find Raj rather astute and irresponsible unless he, as he lauded Big B, lauds other north Indians for their contributing to erecting a work force in the state to which Marathi youth were not attracted. Well, that may be politically detrimental, to get his own wrong acts right, given the degree of militant nationalism he has added to the issue. But here is a lesson for him. Today, it’s Amithabh Bachchan, an actor, tomorrow there will be other celebrated outsiders who will naturally contribute to state’s and culture’s development. As he has appreciated Big B, Raj perhaps will laud their efforts, too. So he should sit back and seriously think about the issue and ask himself a simple question: how long can he turn blind to the contribution of unknown, trivial outsiders. Even they may at a future time will stand up for a local cause. All these possibilities demand practicality of ideology and politics from him.

Hope, he gets his acts right in time.

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