Whose Mumbai is it? India says everybody’s

In the past two days cosmopolitan Mumbai has witnessed ugly parochialism. Political mobs loyal to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray targetted North Indians on the streets, taxi drivers were attacked and their taxis are burnt, passengers on trains were roughed up and even Amitabh Bachchan’s residence came under attack, only because the victims hail from North India.

Are North Indians still outsiders in Mumbai? That was the question discussed on CNN-IBN show Face the Nation conducted by Sagarika Ghose. Look political leaders giving fake justifications to their shortcomings.

1. Who is responsible?

Is the party nurturing a victim mentality within the North Indian community in order to win votes? Is Raj Thackeray trying to repeat Bal Thackeray’s strategy?

2. Vote bank politics?

Are two politically insignificant forces – MNS and Samajwadi party in Maharashtra simply playing a game for votes?

3. Damage control

Deshmukh also explained the initiatives that the state government was taking to bring the communities together.

4. Where is the Mumbaikar spirit?

Every time there is a disaster or a terrorist attack, the spirit of Mumbai takes over. Where is the spirit now and why does it not come to the aid of people who have been targeted? Police, too, has been a mute spectator to the incident and did not do anything to save the people who were attacked.

The growing economy is placing a massive strain on community relations in every Indian city and making nonsense of India’s modern image. Be it in Mumbai, Bangalore or Hyderabad, locals complain that migrants are taking away their jobs and their facilities. Governments act swiftly to impose law and order otherwise India’s famous cosmopolitan urbanism will be revealed to the world, as nothing but a lie.