 The fiercely ethnic slogan backed by violence may have perilous consequences, if allowed to drift. Mumbai for Marathis is the current buzzword in the Shiv Sena circles in Maharashtra state. To force its point the Shiv Sena has resorted even to violence to compel Indians from other states to either learn the local language or leave Mumbai. Those who do not are harassed in work places.
It all started with the struggle for the rights of the bhumiputra (son of the soil). Immediately after independence, Jawaharlal Nehru had hoped that creating states on linguistic basis would foster unity among the Indian populace. Maharashtra, with Marathi-speaking people, was accordingly carved out as a separate state from the Bombay Presidency in 1960.
Mumbai, the state's capital is India's industrial and commercial hub and the headquarters of its burgeoning film industry. In consequence, people of all callings from all over India swarmed to Mumbai in search of their fortunes. However, because, migrants captured most jobs, the indigenous Maratha felt marginalized in his own home.
As resentment grew, Balasaheb Thackeray, better known as Bal Thackeray took his chance. In June 1966, he founded a political organization, Shiv Sena, or the "army of Shiv." Its workers are called Shiv sainiks or Shiv's soldiers. However, Shiv derives its name from Shivaji Maratha, who shot to fame by standing up to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the seventeenth century, and not from the Hindu god, Shiv.
The Sena's ideology is based on the concept of 'Bhumiputra' (Marathi for "Sons of the Soil"). It therefore believes that Maharashtrians deserve more rights in Maharashtra than those who are not from the state.
A firebrand demagogue, Thackeray, initially targeted the growing number of South Indians by inflammatory slogans like "lungi hatao, pungi bajao" (referring to the lungi, a Marathi word for the traditional men's dress in South India) and "yendu gundu" (a derogatory description of the Dravidian languages spoken by the people from South India).
During this period, Shiv Sainiks launched a string of attacks on the South-Indian owned Udupi restaurants that were becoming popular in Mumbai. In a similar manner, Thackeray later targeted Gujaratis, Marwaris, Biharis and people from other North Indian states like Uttar Pradesh whom he called 'UPites,' through his vitriolic speeches.
Thackeray's intensely charged anti-migrant oratory and ethnic appeal electrified the disgruntled and often unemployed Maharashtrian youth who swelled the Sena's ranks. So, later, it created an employment cell - Shiv Udyog Sena and its student wing - the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena ("All India Students' Army").
Opposition to the migrants translated into shunning their language, Hindi, though it happens to be India's state language. Letters sent to Maharashtra cities if written with Hindi addresses end up in the garbage can. Even official letters sent in Hindi are not responded to.
With the indigenous Marathas' solid support, the Shiv Sena won 15 (out of 545) seats in the 1999-2004 Lok Sabha. It joined the National Democratic Alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Its "sainik" (soldier) Manohar Joshi was elected as Lok Sabha Speaker (2002-2004), while the Sena-BJP combine ruled over the Maharashtra state from 1995 to 1999. More recently, it won the Mumbai municipal election in 2007, which has given it a solid base in the metropolis.
Meanwhile, nephew, Raj Thackeray, having parted course from Uncle Bal, launched his own Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). He recently issued a statement that MNS would bring taxi operations in Mumbai to a standstill if permits are not given only to Marathas. Caving in before his street power, the state government immediately decided to give taxi permits only to those who have resided in Maharashtra for 15 years and who could speak, read and write Marathi.
Simultaneously, the MNS distributed Marathi language alphabet books to north Indian taxi and auto rickshaw drivers as part of an exercise to teach them Marathi. Its activists asked taxi drivers to learn the language within 40 days or else return to their native places.
Like the Shiv Sena's labor wing, Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, MNS has also floated a workers union, "Maharashtra Navnirman Kamgar Sena," Its activists "are writing letters to 45,000 industries in Maharashtra asking them to ensure 80 per cent reservation of vacancies for the Marathi residents of the state," according to party chief coordinator, Manoj Chavan.
True, Shiv Sainiks do not carry lethal weapons, yet violence is their creed and integral to their demonstrations. People are often killed, either from flying rocks or beaten to death with sticks. If a protest is about north Indians taking jobs as taxi drivers, then taxis are destroyed and north Indians are beaten (occasionally to death).
The inventory of the anti-immigrant activities of the uncle-nephew senas (Shiv Sena and/or the MNS) over the past two years includes: Forcing shopkeepers to change their signs from Hindi to Marathi, publicly slapping a politician while he took the oath of office in Hindi (instead of Marathi), imposing a law demanding that all taxi drivers in Mumbai speak and read Marathi (discussed above) and attacking north Indians taking a exam in Mumbai to apply for jobs with the Indian Railways.
However, the crude parochialism of Uncle Bal and nephew Raj seems to have reached a stage where some eminent Maharashtrian personalities, such as the renowned singer, Asha Bhonsle, cricket genius, Sachin Tendulkar and industrial tycoon, Mukesh Ambani, have decided to speak out.
Even the sangh parivar, which advocates Hindu nationalism, has vented its opposition to the Sena's anti-migrant agitation. "Mumbai is for all Indians. People of all languages, communities, tribes are children of India..." declared RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat in a recent speech. "Nobody can prevent Indians from moving to any part of the country for employment."
Earlier, talking to reporters, RSS leader Ram Madhav had said: "The Sangh parivar has asked its volunteers in Maharashtra to try and prevent the spread of anti-north Indian and anti-Hindi feelings. There should be no discrimination on the basis of language."
To both, Sena reacted swiftly and sharply. Answering RSS chief's remarks, Sena leader Manohar Joshi said, "Mumbai belongs to, and continues to belong to, Marathi people. Likewise, Thackeray critiqued Ambani and Tendulkar for saying, "Mumbai belongs to all Indians."
Shiv Sena has since trained its gun also against Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan for stating everybody had the right to come and work in Mumbai. Writing in his weekly Marmik, Bal Thackeray complained that "outsiders like Shankaranarayanan (his home state is Kerela) who come to the Raj Bhawan have showed complete disregard to the sentiments of the sons of the soil and it amounts to betraying the trust of the people of state."
Superficially, the Mumbai for Marathi agitation may look like a replica of the Bengali peoples' campaign in former East Pakistan against outsiders and Urdu language. But, there, it was the other way round. The federal government had sought to force the Bengalis to read, write and speak Urdu, undermining their Bengali mother tongue, while Bengalis were marginalized not for want of talent but because of their language.
Shiv Sena's philosophy, on the other hand, fosters hatred against co-nationals who do not speak Marathi. Such a trend if it spreads to other states would not augur well for India's national unity. Take the example of Kolkata. It is another commercial and industrial metropolis. Like Mumbai it is also inhabited by hundreds of thousands of people of diverse callings - industrialists, business moguls and other job-seekers, from all over India.
But West Bengalis do not force the large community of Marwaris, Biharis, Oriyas, UP-ians, Sikhs and other north Indian taxi and bus drivers/conductors, to learn to read write and speak Bengali, or leave. They do not raise the slogan, "Kolkata for Bengalis."
Sena's demand for just share of locals in jobs may be genuine. But, business and industry thrive on qualified workers. The political leadership must therefore rise to the occasion to stem the tide which threatens India's economic and political stability. 
S. G. Jilanee is a senior political analyst and the former editor of Southasia Magazine.
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