Resilience or apathy?

Being a resident of Mumbai for a while now, my parents staying in Delhi were worried when they heard about the terror attacks. I still get calls from them multiple times a day to inquire about my safety. As people who have been around for a while and seen multiple terror attacks across the country my parents were no-doubt worried, but also silent on how to fix this issue. Their thoughts were not very different from the words that came out of Mr R.R. Patil’s mouth, for which he was sacked. Things like these happen in big cities.

Of course things like this happen in big cities. Who would attack a small town? The purpose of attacking major cities is to invoke the same amount of hue and cry and go-to-war kind of reactions that the Mumbai attacks have invoked.

In the Mahabharata, there was an incident when Krishna goes to negotiate for the Pandavas and Duryodhan refuses to part with even a needle-tip size area of land for the Pandavas. He then goes on ordering his guards to arrest Krishna. Krishna warns Duryodhan saying “Do not confuse my resilience with cowardice”
Time has come when this apparent resilience of people in our country is being considered as cowardice. A strong and befitting reply needs to be given. Retribution is needed maybe not at the scale at which the United States gave after 9/11. But we need something that is swift and without mercy. Here is where maybe we can learn from Israel after the Munich incident?

But is this really resilience that we were so proud of till some time back? The undying spirit of Mumbai is what people claimed. Or is it more of a temporary flaming-up of emotions and an even quicker dying-down of them? After the early attacks on our country, we were agitated. The initial agitation died a quick death due to the complete lack of concern from the people in power. The feeling of agitation gave rise to helplessness and the impending need to feed mouths took over. This helplessness has now led to apathy. Ruins of that initial agitation still remain, which is why we are comfortable in taking out a rally and then go home thinking we’ve done our bit.

Sad as it may seem, the spirit of Mumbai is not resilience, its apathy.

Join the “Indians Against Terrorism” community on Orkut.

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Finally Found!! The Miracle Cure to Terrorism!!

Why didn’t we think of this before? The antidote to terrorism was right under our noses all this while and we chose to ignore it. Donning the hat of an intelligence agency, my mind started racing. We have had such great weapons that we could use, that these terrorists and their daddies sitting in Pakistan(?) would not even know what hit them. So what is the solution after all?

On behalf of The Angry Indian I would like to propose the creation of a task force to tackle this terror menace that has been eating this country. The members of this task force would be our weapons of annihilation causing mass destruction amongst the ranks of terror mongers.

I propose the task force to comprise of the following people:

MNS and Raj Thackeray:
The guy is a genius. Singlehandedly he has managed to unite whole of Maharashtra under his leadership chanting the Marathi Manoos slogan. Never before have the people of Maharashtra been so united in their cause of kicking out North Indian squatters and taxi drivers. Why did we need the NSG to come all the way from Delhi to save us? The NSG has a more important job of protecting our netaas. All we needed to do was let loose the MNS on the terrorists. Chanting the slogan of “Jai Shivaji Maharaaj” the elite MNS commando force would have kicked the terrorists’ asses to hell. Remember where the first attack happened? It was a railway station. The MNS has had recent experience of combat at a railway station a few months back and their bodies have been already acclimatized. They would have been much more effective than the NSG. So next time an attack happens, I say call in the MNS lead by Major Raj Thackeray.

Oh yeah, one word of caution! Before you send them in, do remember to tell them that the terrorists are actually North Indians from UP and Bihar. The correct term I believe would be bhaiyya.

The Saffron Brigade:
If anyone can be more effective than the MNS, it has to be the Saffron brigade – lead by the BJP with the VHP and the Bajrang Dal in tow. The MNS is a fairly new force and hence its methods are rather direct and sometimes ineffective against the covert terrorist attacks. Enter the saffron brigade with over 15 years of experience of combat. Let’s take the example of the recent Mumbai attacks. The terrorists were holed up inside an old building of historic significance, making life very difficult for the NSG commandos. Did you say, an old building of historical significance? Simple, that’s what the saffron brigade speacializes in. A thousand kar-sevaks, with swords in their hands and chanting “Jai Sri Ram”, would have simply stormed The Taj Hotel and The Oberoi, bringing the buildings down within hours even before the terrorists had started killing anyone. And who would the team leader be? Of course Mr. Narendra Modi – Advani is too old for action, he can be the strategist.

As with the MNS a word of caution here! Before you send them in do remember to tell them that the owners of the buildings are Muslims and they built the structures after tearing down ancient Hindu temples.

Mayawati and the BSP:
Now what good would it do to bring in Mayawati? I mean the MNS and the Saffron Brigade pretty much have it covered when it comes to rampant usage of force. Mayawati of course is to play with the minds of the terrorists. Rising from the shadows of casteism in India, she has shown the world that even a person of “modest” background can turn out to be not so modest after all. I mean, come on – a lot of the terrorists come from poor backgrounds. When people are poor they can be bribed with food and served a dash of the ideology seasoning along with it. Who says two can’t play the same game? Mayawati would show these terrorists the good life and be able to successfully coerce them into quitting terrorism and joining the high flying lifestyle of politicians.

Mamata Bannerjee:
How many NSG commandoes we had in Mumbai? Much less than the 5000 strong crowd she managed to collect to gherao the Tata Motors plant in Singur. Beat that NSG!! Talk about crowd power!! The terrorists would be psyched to see so many people out to get them. Pressure tactics at its best. We do have to keep in mind that Ms Bannerjee has had loads of experience in gheraoing property owned by the Tatas.

The UPA:
The strategy of bringing them in would of course be to bore the terrorists to death. While Manmohan Singh would come and just sit around and not do anything, P Chidambaram would start assuring the terrorists that the global economic meltdown would actually help Pakistan.

There are plenty more, I won’t go into the details. To cut a long list short, some key players of this task force I would like to mention: Laloo Prasad Yadav (with Pappu Yadav in tow), The Kerala CM, V.S Achuthanandan, RR Patil (ex Deputy CM of Maharashtra) and of course how can we forget the CPIM leaders (all of them). Bringing them along might actually trick the terrorists into thinking that these leaders are actually on their side.

I think all these groups mentioned above should work together to solve the terror problem. I would suggest creating smaller task forces comprising members of each of the above mentioned groups and stationing them in all major terror prone areas. We had the problem of the NSG not being able to land in Mumbai up to 10 hours after the attack had started. We wouldn’t want to get into the same problem again. So go India – let loose these deadly forces against the serpent of terror and watch it (the serpent, not India) wither away into obscurity.

And you know the best part? If during the operations something were to happen to these brave sons and daughters of the nation, they would be aptly called heroes and they would have given India something to be happy about even in the unfortunate event of their martyrdom…

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The value of Rs 500

Recently at a gathering I attended discussing the current credit crisis and the global economic meltdown, the speaker complained that Indians spend too little. The spending habits of the Americans has lead to a high consumption and given a boost to the economy. And America is just a 350 million odd people. India on the other hand has over a billion people. He went on to say that if Indians started spending like the Americans do, our economy would be booming too. While much has been discussed about spending and how it creates a “tricke-down-effect” in the economy, I chanced upon this video on youtube.

In the video different people from different stratas of the society are asked what they would do if they were given Rs 500/-. It was amusing to hear the answers. I liked the last but one frame of the clip, whch says: A haircut for someone = school fees for another. The video is from Open Space, a Pune based organization, which according to their website is the civil society and youth outreach initiative of the Centre for Communication and Development Studies.

Watch the video here:

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Massive Rapid Transport Systems of India

As cities grow in size, the number of vehicles on the roads road goes up. This creates a necessity to discourage private modes and encourage public transport. This typically happens once the level of traffic along any travel corridor in a particular direction exceeds 20,000 people per hour.

Adding buses is not enough. Buses do carry many people at a go, more so in India looking at the fact that buses in India rarely go empty and most times are full to the brim; travel in one and you’ll come out half suffocated to death. However buses are still slow and lord knows in India we know they slow down the rest of the traffic. Autorickshaws and taxis are another public transport option, but they’re no better than the private cars in the sense that they too add to the burden. Plus all these options are for the road. The underground passes and the space above the roads are left unutilized.

Therefore Introduction of a rail based (MRTS) Mass Rapid Transit System is something that countries have looked towards as a useful solution to this growing transport “menace”. Of course politicians instead of building these systems are more interested in blaming “migrants” for the added burden on the city’s road infrastructure. Mass Rapid Transit Systems are not simple to build anywhere- they’re more complex in a country like India where even small stretches of Roads take forever to build. Additionally this is a capital intensive exercise and usually and has a long gestation period. It has been observed that in developed countries, planning for mass transit system starts when city population size touches 10 lakh; the system is in place by the time the city population is 20 to 30 lakh and once the population exceeds 40 lakh or so, planned extensions to the Mass Rapid Transit Systems is vigorously taken up.

In developing countries including India, because of paucity of funds planning and implementation of rail based Mass Rapid Transit Systems has been lagging far behind the requirements. Delhi’s MRTS system (built by DMRC) was built only when the city’s population reached 1 crore. Mumbai has had a Mass Transport System (can hardly call it rapid) running through a North-South corridor in the city. However the city’s west-east corridor has been under tremendous pressure especially in the suburbs. Mumbai has recently started building its first MRTS system (with the city’s population touching 1.4 crore) in the west - east corridor.



The project is being built by a company known as Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd. According to their website:

Mumbai Metro One Private Limited is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 to implement the Versova- Andheri- Ghatkopar (VAG) Metro corridor in Mumbai. It is a Joint Venture Company formed by Reliance Energy Limited, a Reliance ADA Group Company, Veolia Transport, France and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

This does bring about a question in my head. We already have had a Metro in Kolkata for ages. We just had a very successful MRTS being built in Delhi. Is there any collaboration between these? Was any advice taken from Delhi’s DMRC ? After all they have the recent experience. I wouldn’t place a bet on any collaboration taking place between these inter-state companies. Of course the contract would have to be awarded to Reliance, which has tremendous clout in the state and off course, we needed expert (read expensive) consulting from a French company. The company has recently raised Rs 1194 Cr that it needed for creation of the first corridor. I wonder what took so much time since one of the members of the joint venture is MMRDA, which is sitting on a treasure chest of Rs 12,000 Cr in cash.

Even after the project being allotted to the company, work is almost non-existent. Roads sections have been barricaded and left as is. Work, if any, either does not happen or carries forward at a pace that leaves the viewer wondering whether they’ll see it complete in their lifetimes.

I have a few major questions, amongst other minor ones:

1. Why was the project allotted to this “Special Purpose Vehicle” newly formed company when there existed companies within the country (like DMRC) that have done this kind of a job before?

2. Are companies like DMRC being consulted with regards to their experience? And if yes, what’s their extent of involvement?

3. Why do we need consulting from a foreign company every time we build one of these? Couldn’t we have documented the findings of the “consulting work” done during the Delhi MRTS development? “Experts” and compulsive arguers would undoubtedly argue that Delhi and Mumbai are hugely different. Where is the Cost-Benefit analysis report? Why not make it public? Why not display it on the company website?

4. Why is it that the work is happening at such a slooow rate? Yeah right - its complicated work, land needs to be acquired, things like this take time ..blah blah blah… Just let us know how long will this work go on for?

5. What is the role of the Government in making sure work happens as planned? Are there any monthly status reports? Who in the government reviews them? Is the government kicking some ass in making sure this project goes through as schedule? Or for that matter what is the schedule?

I suppose these questions are ones that every citizen is asking? So how do we get the answers? I’m thinking - maybe an RTI?

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Malegaon Blasts: Did he or did he not?

Lt Col Shrikant Purohit was arrested day before yesterday by the ATS in connection with the Malegaon blasts. Purohit is a serving Lt Col in the Indian army.

This is probably the first instance of an army officer being held in connection with a terror attack.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) placed Lt Col Srikant Purohit under arrest after of questioning him for over a period of time for his alleged role in supplying money and explosive material for the explosion that killed six persons.

Purohit yesterday has admitted that he was the mastermind of the Malegaon blasts

This statement was given by him to the ATS. Purohit admitted he had masterminded the blast as ”revenge” against the other blasts that had happened in the country. Revenge against whom? Apparently the revenge was against Islamist groups who had allegedly orchestrated other blasts in the rest of the country. Lt Col Purohit felt it would be a fitting reply if a blast took place in a Muslim dominated area. Apparently he thought killing of Muslim innocents was a fitting reply to Islamic terror groups.

However this statement that has been given to the ATS is not admissible in court. The police will still have to prove that he did it as Purohit may do a u-turn and deny everything. When contacted ATS officials are mum about the issue, their spokesperson even denies that such a confession ever took place. Which keeps the question alive in our head – did he or did he not do it?

The Indian Army is worried about its image. The army had come under the scanner a few years back when it was claimed that the percentage of the non Hindus in the army was very less. And now with a serving Lt Col being arrested for spreading communalism, is the Army is afraid it will be looked upon as a Hindu unit? Well I don’t think the army has anything to worry about. The people of India are aware of the sacrifices made by members of the Indian Army and fully support it.

The whole country has seen a wave of terror in the last few years when multiple serial blasts have ripped through the country. While Islamic units are usually the first people who accept responsibility and are considered the pioneers of terror in India, the Malegaon blasts and the subsequent arrests of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Purohit has shown us that there are others in the race to attain glory by blowing up innocents. Whether Hindu or Muslim, may they rot in hell forever.

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Shoot on Sight: A lame film on the crime of being a Muslim

Ok, so another movie on terrorism? They just don’t stop do they?

I just love it when art makes an attempt to imitate life. Either it succeeds, if success in such a field may be defined OR it falls short by miles and we get a Shoot on Sight. So what aspect of life does the film look at depicting? The film makes a feeble attempt at representing the racism Muslims faced post the 7/11 blasts in London tube stations.

The film revolves around an incident and a character. The incident is the beginning of the film where a Muslim youth (or rather a youth who looks like a Muslim) is shot down on suspicion of being a terrorist. The first 10 minutes are an insight into what a clichéd approach the film would take. I mean, what does a Muslim look like anyway? Do all Muslims look the same? I would officially brand this as Lame Moment No 1.

Anyway, enter Tariq Ali (a character played by Naseeruddin Shah). Shah depicts the character of a devout Muslim from Pakistan and is the only Asian officer in Scotland Yard. Amidst departmental politics and the media crying out loud over the death of an innocent, Shah takes over the charge of investigating into the killing of the youth and to find out whether charges of racism against the police department hold any good. Strangely the investigation supposedly happens in the background because the only thing viewers see any of it is a five minute shot of an interview that Shah has with the deceased mother and sister.

Most of the film focuses around Shah’s life. He is shown happily married to a British wife, has a football loving (possibly gay) son, a rebelling sixteen year old pot smoking daughter and spends time everyday with a butcher friend (Gulshan Grover) reminiscing their childhood days in Pakistan. Not long into the film enters Zaheer, Shah’s nephew from Pakistan who comes to stay with the family. Zaheer is a poor young man who after the death of his father due to natural causes, was convinced to become a terrorist. What? No friends or family who were killed by American bombers? Why would the guy suddenly develop affinity for millions of “Muslim brothers” supposedly killed by the Americans, Israelis and the British? Muslims are there all over the world right from Malaysia to India to Pakistan to the middle-east, to Africa, the European nations as well as in the Americas. To think that all Muslims regardless of their country of residence or lifestyle or education always think alike, act alike and have feelings of brotherhood for people of the same faith irrespective of background - would be naïve and downright stupid. As is evident, this branding of the Pakistani youth would be the Lame Moment No 2.

Shah’s wife is in the film is interesting. She is British by birth and born into a liberal family. She has had no difficulty in adapting to the Muslim way of life (whatever that means). So much is her deep rooted devotion towards a culture her husband is supposedly into, that she does not even bat an eyelid when someone suggests a wedding between her daughter and Zaheer. She does the swinging between being suspicious of Zaheer for being a terrorist and looking at him as a future son-in-law very effortlessly. On occasion she is even seen looking at the interaction that happens between her daughter and Zaheer with a little more than a twinkle in her eyes. A far cry from any Western woman I’ve known. Lame Moment No. 3

Strangely enough, the film deals with the issue of racism against Muslims in only bits and pieces. There are two 10-second shots where the sister of the person who was wrongly shot down, screams at the media that her brother was not a terrorist. And then there is one scene when Gulshan Grover becomes nostalgic of a time after the blasts when he boards a bus and people he traveled with daily refuse to acknowledge him on account of him “looking” like a Muslim.

Asians do face racism in the western parts of the world. Brown happens to be the new black. Shoot on Sight, even though it makes an attempt to depict this situation, does so in a very haphazard manner. I would give the file two stars out of five, mainly because of Naseeruddin Shah’s acting. The guy manages to excel even in such a boring film.

If one sentence would describe the movie, I would say it is a combination of the Brad Pitt- Harrison Ford starrer Devil’s Own entwined in the subject of terrorism with a dash of racism thrown in. These are too many diverse subjects for a two hour film. It is a very good example of the fact that not every serious movie is a good one.

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Western Influence is not a bad thing

Listening to the War of Words by Karan Thapar, I noticed two words being very commonly used, especially one after the other. The words were “Western” and “Influence”. Of course put together they sounded something like “Western Influence”. The loud voice of the Hindutva brigade comedian BP Singhal was the one frequently mentioning these words. I don’t call him a comedian to disrespect him, but rather because he is very entertaining to watch. The issue of discussion was Homosexuality and the practice of it. Mr. Singhal of course was a vehement criticizer of the practice of Homosexuality and called it a western influence on many an occasion. The intent of this article is not to discuss homosexuality (I’ll reserve another article for that one).  

Watching the debate with me was a friend who has lived most of her growing up years in America. Amongst other things including explaining to me the difference between Homosexuality and the practice of it (excluding the graphical details), she happened to mention that we should learn a thing or two from America / rest of the world where homosexuality has been discussed, debated and laws changed accordingly allowing gay men and women to live their lives without fear of stigma.

Yes, there are things that we can learn from the west. I looked back at my minimal-by-some standards interaction with the western culture and my naïve belief that I understand western values. There are certain stark differences that one can easily see.

Public Awareness in day to day life: We can learn to be less apathetic towards our public duties - in terms of public cleanliness, thinking of the community. In India we keep our houses clean, our society buildings clean, but the moment we step out to the streets we don’t hesitate to throw that cigarette butt or casually chuck from our moving cars the empty coffee paper cups.

Respect for Law of the Land: For some reason, the general feeling amongst Indians is that it’s easy to break the law and get away with it. Though we do have certain colonial laws that try to repress freedom of speech, free thought and harmless action, on the other hand we have people breaking laws and getting away with it (Like the alleged attack of MNS party workers on the house of a journalist or the molestation of women outside a Mumbai hotel). Our law enforcers are busy catching smokers while terrorists are allowed to blow up bombs. While political party “goondas” go around blackening faces on Valentine’s Day, the police go after people who express their personal dislike for Sonia Gandhi on Orkut. While laws need to be changed and law makers need to give people their right to free speech, the people also need to understand that breaking the law is not something you should be able to get away with.

Social Awareness and Responsibilities: Who are the people who blog on Indian issues? Common people like you and me. If you are a visitor to political blogs in America or watch popular American TV shows one often encounters Hollywood celebrities like Alec Baldwin who don the hat of an activist and actively speak out. Sure Amitabh Bacchan spoke out for Animal Rights no one remembers when. But other than some regular activists like Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, Indian celebrities are just busy minting money. The celebs are busy making movies and we are busy watching them on weekends – when we could have helped out at the local blind school or old age home?

I could go on for a few more pages, but I also wanted to reflect on what the west (read America) can learn from us. I admit it was a bit difficult for me to come up with these and in the process I did learn that maybe I have been too much of a cynic and need to lighten up a bit.

Multiculturalism: Sure America is considered the melting pot of all cultures. But is it really? The country took a few centuries before a black candidate could even hope to run for President. US presidents primarily have been what I call WCMs or White Christian Males. In India, after the last elections a European born Catholic woman (Sonia Gandhi) made way for a Sikh (Manmohan Singh) to be the Prime Minister, sworn in by a Muslim (A P J Abdul Kalam) in a country with 81% Hindus. Now I am not ranting about secularism here, but this does show that we have multiculturalism more deeply imbibed in our culture than probably any other country out there.

Regularization: I am not a financial expert, but the current credit crisis in the US and the $840 billion bailout does give rise to a fundamental question. What was the Government doing while “Market Makers” went around creating derivative products out of thin air and mortgage banks giving half-a-million loans to people who earned less than 3000 dollars a month? (See I told you I’m no financial expert). Take another example – India may not have the best healthcare system in the world, but we haven’t yet sold out our health care structure to the insurance companies – did I mention yet.

I should probably stop now before the naïve nationalist in me takes over. And I’ll end this somewhat longer than usual article on one note. Whatever we are doing correctly, whatever we are doing well, we should keep doing it and make it better and better. But whatever we are yet to learn from the West, let us learn it fast and let us learn it well and let us implement them in small but meaningful steps.  

Watching Sarah Palin (John McCain’s running mate) brag about small town values is torture. Words like “Harvard Graduate” and “elitist” almost sound like derogatory abuses coming from her. Let us not use our “ancient cultural values” as an excuse to be an inefficient race. Let us become elitist and give back to this country what it has been screaming to get for a while now. Is John Abraham listening? Maybe not - for him I guess being an activist is playing a gay character in a movie.

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Ratan Tata moves from the bad “M” to the good “M”

“Good M?” Is that what Narendra Modi is now? I guess Ratan Tata with one quick sweep has proved that in the business world profit is above everything else.

After the Nano project being beaten to death by Mamata Bannerjee in West Bengal, Ratan Tata will be moving to Gujrat for the Nano project. Today’s newspaper carried a photograph of Tata hugging Modi.
Isn’t this the same Ratan Tata who made this comment?

And isn’t this the same Narendra Modi who can’t seem to shake off the ghosts of Ghodra?

Given the trouble Tata had to go through in West Bengal, people don’t really blame him for moving out of West Bengal and into Gujrat. But then is this not contradictory of him to embrace Modi who is allegedly the epitome of Hindu communalism?

I personally am willing to give Ratan Tata the benefit of the doubt – let’s make it a case of his personal opinion and professional justification. Also what has Gujrat done wrong? If Gujrat welcomes Tata with open arms and provides a better enviroment than WB did, should Tata really hold out because of what his personal opinion on certain actions of its Chief Minister?

Here’s Tata’s speech on development in Gujrat

Updates from the Angry Indian

Tatas have been a gem of the nation, one of the only few businesses that refuse to cow down to the demands of the politicians. Would have been easy to pay off the dissenting politicans in Singur for Ratan Tata. I believe the decision to move into Gujrat was driven out of the need to move out of West Bengal. Though Tata could have selected any another state - there were other states willing as well, Maharashtra amongst them.
I would call Tata more of an ethical businessman rather than a philanthropist. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have set the bar very high for philanthropists, be kinda hard for Tata to beat that.

Even in Bengal the land being given was for free. Every state government who gives land for free acquires it first and then gives it. It’s just that the locals protested against the same in Bengal, as they did in AP. I hope this leads to the industry demanding a clean and clear cut land acquisition policy from the government and make state governments look inside and determine how they balance the needs of the industry and the locals whose lands are acquired.

And be under no doubt that the Nano project is profitable. A $3000 car is a direction to go towards not a target to achieve. I would expect the actual price when the car hits the road to be higher and hope Tata makes a profit.

It’s good to see difference of opinion amongst readers of Angry Indian- keeps the spirit alive. AI is after all a dialogue and not a monologue.

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When Hitler is Venerated

“No one will support his genocide of the Jews” – Raj Thackeray got two full pages in the Sunday’s edition of Mumbai Mirror. The “journalist” who managed to get Raj saheb to talk was none other than our dear Shobha De who had trouble asking the right questions of course given the size of the oversized reporter hat that she had put on. By the way FYI, A reporter hat seems oversized or not depending upon whether your head (read brain) is pea sized or bigger.

But Oh! Did Raj Thackeray pour out his heart, couldn’t resist the charms of the aging but nevertheless pretty author. Right from calling India Europe to praising Hitler, Raj shone all the way. Anyway – Here’s some excerpts from the interview.

SD: Today is non-violence day. What is your message?

RT: I feel Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence was for the intelligent, educated British. It was not for those who don’t understand this language. Those circumstances don’t exist today.

Sure they don’t.  Not since your guys went on a rampage around Mumbai beating up people who hadn’t considered it a priority picking up the local language. These good for nothing journos don’t understand that.

SD: Today is non-violence day. What is your message?

 RT: I feel Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence was for the intelligent, educated British. It was not for those who don’t understand this language. Those circumstances don’t exist today.

Thanks Raj for pointing it out that the people in this country and stupid and uneducated. But then again, if they were not so, where would that put you? Damn man, you are smart.

SD: But you have not answered the question on violence. Whether you endorse it…

 RT: I am not Mahatma Gandhi. And secondly, I speak to people in the language they understand. First I have a dialogue, if that is not understood I speak in another language. There is no remedy for this.

Er small suggestion - Ever considered conducting Marathi night classes for the common man?

SD: Taking the democracy argument further, in a country like India, who decides which person has the right to be in whichever part of the country?

 RT: India is like Europe. This means there is one currency and numerous languages and cultures. And this is a ‘Europe’ made up of various cultures.

Oh Thank You! I always wanted to be called European. But why restrict yourself to Europe alone, why not the whole world? Oh shucks, the world does not have the same currency. So I guess that’s all that binds a country together, the currency. Now here’s a smart guy. I suppose the next thing he’ll propose is having multiple state-level currencies, individual monarchs and the only time the word India is mentioned is when there’s a cricket match. How wonderful! – Hey wait a minute – didn’t we have that about a hundred years back? (with the Lagaan Cricket match) Yeaah! Raj has it figured out. Let’s invite the Brits to re-rule us, that way we’ll all be happy. Brilliant gem of a fellow I must say.

SD: What I am saying is, suppose someone who lives here and is contributing to Maharashtra, Mumbai, but doesn’t know Marathi, is that person’s contribution any less?

 RT: It is not about contribution. They should learn Marathi.

SD: Isn’t that some kind of jabardasti?

RT: They don’t understand any other language but jabardasti. My plea to teach Marathi in schools was not heard either. If this is your attitude, we will do jabardasti.

Raj is absolutely right. This is not about contribution, who cares about contribution anyway? What were people like Edison and Einstein thinking anyway, they should’ve joined the nearest grammar school instead of inventing stupid things like the light bulb and the theory of relativity?

SD: Why do you think the Maharashtrian manoos lacks the killer instinct that we see in other states?

RT: Those who govern us have become mentally corrupt. Ultimately they are the ones who influence masses. Through the elections in Gujarat, each time two Gujaratis came face to face here, they said “Om Namah Namah”. They meant Om Narendra Modi Namah.    

Oh God, I love this guy. He cracks jokes as well. Now let’s see – can I think of a Marathi expression that will mean “Om Raj Thackeray namah”? Raj- Help me out please, I am still learning the language.

SD: The impression is that you are one of the biggest landlords in India?

 RT: I’ll be happy if I am.

SD: So it’s not true? Are you one of the biggest in Maharashtra?

RT: Go, count my property and tell me if I am. You are talking about Kohinoor. It’s not with me. It’s with the IL&FS. The headlines look great: Raj buys Kohinoor for Rs 421 crore. Where did I get Rs 421 crore?
SD: Tell us…

RT: IL&FS was our third partner. We were one-third partners each. You know when the politicians speak, people think otherwise. I was sitting in this hall outside. Since childhood, we have been playing and going around Shivaji Park. Shiv Sena Bhavan was here. I have a construction business.

Common Shobha, leave the poor guy alone. Go chase Hiranandani or DLF. Raj is only a one third partner, he just had 140 crores. That’s peanuts, don’t you have better work than chase poor builder turned politicians?

SD: Do you justify Hitler’s tactics?

RT: Yes, I do. If you don’t understand my point of view, I’ll have to do this. For me, Maharashtra’s pride is most important. Maharashtra is for Marathi manoos. Will you say England belongs to other nationals because they are there in large numbers?

SD: How do you relax?

RT: Reading. I read biographies. Hitler, Indira Gandhi.
SD: Hitler as a hero?

RT: You know I think Gandhiji was the greatest leader in India in the last century. Similarly, Hitler’s commitment to the German nation-building is historical. No one will support his genocide of Jews.
SD: Your strategy — Maharashtra for Maharashtrians… how is it so different from Hitler’s? Who is an outsider?

RT: Those who don’t accept the official language here are outsiders. Marathi is local. Those who have come from outside but have accepted this state as theirs are locals. I have several Gujarati friends who have lived here for generations. They speak in Marathi.

Any the one’s who don’t speak Marathi? Let us put them in trucks, pile them up in Ghettos, strip them naked and gas their women, Children and aged. Oh and when no one’s looking let’s burn their dead as well. Hitler had it easy, he had just 6 million Jews to kill.

 Just one thing- How will the Gandhi part of my brain react to the Hitler part of my brain? Not sure. How do you do it Raj, how do you make Gandhi and Hitler co-exist in your mind? And if you somehow manage to make them co-exist, I hope Gandhi can teach a thing or two to Hitler.

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Jago.in - The next wave of Mutiny in India?

Is India rising? Yes I think. The 1857 mutiny was India’s first rising against the oppression of the British. In the 21st Century I think India is rising again. Not with a big bang. Not with an armed rebellion, but trust me when I say this, India is awakeining.

And this time it’s not religious apprehensions of biting off cartridges laced with cow or pig fat. This one is all about feelings of nationality. Feelings of being a proud Indian. An overwhelming desire to make India a better place to live in is what is driving this second wave of “mutiny”. And a huge part of it is happening here, our very own solace - The Internet.

Browsing certain articles on Google, I came across this political party called “Jago”. The party has been started by people by a group of people with non political background. Businessmen, Lawyers and ex-IAS officers have come together to make “Jago”, the existence of which is purely for the purpose of making India better.

The mission of the party is to make India a very safe, strong and rich country.  The party has a great online presence. A slick website that clearly lists it’s mission / manifesto, links for citizens to post incidents of corruption, gives details of the RTI act and how it can be used and an appeal to join
either for active or passive membership. It’s no wonder that 200,000 people have already signed up.

Jago’s manifesto:

1. Reservation for none, jobs for everyone through free english education
2. Improvement in Law and Order
3. Elimination of Corruption
4. Financial Aid of Rs 600 to every voter per month
5. Creation of Wealth
6. Checking Population Growth
7. Reducing Pollution
8. Strenthening Secularism
9. Strengthening Democracy
10. Promoting Individual Freedom
11. Human Rights across the world

Most of their maniufesto items are applaudable. However there were a few of them which I was a little apprehensive about. I am not sure what the Rs 600 will achieve? Sounds like a bribe to voters to vote? Also I was a little apprehensive about the “creation of wealth bit”. Though I am not a communist, the party does seem to lean a wee bit towards capitalism.

Doubts aside, I appreciate their effort and and I think in a small but significant way the Jago Party doing it’s bit in bringing about the next wave of Mutiny in India. Check them out at http://jago.in 

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