Unity in Diversity

by Asma Khan
'India is a secular democracy’ we proudly say. Every Indian desires that the country should come on top of the world. We are simply overwhelmed with its every success and we get genuinely upset with its single failure.
But Mr. Raj Thackrey masquerading as a die-hard patriot is trying to divide the country in the name of region. The sentiment of Raj Thackrey’s bandwagon on 'regionalism above nationalism' is condemnable to say the least. His tirade against the taxi drivers from Bihar or push-cart vendors from U.P, right to the Bachchans has affected the lives of the people living in the State. On the 19 th of October, its target was north Indians appearing for Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) test. It seems he is unaware that railways do not recruit people on the basis of region. Is he unable to understand that these people are directly or indirectly serving Maharashtra and helping India to ‘shine’? Placing the interest of one's region above that of the nation is a threat to the unity of the country. It reflects that Mr. Thackeray is unable to envision Maharashtra as a part of India.
MNS as the pocket organization of Raj Thackeray made hue and cry, when Amitabh Bachchan announced his intention to build a school for girls in U.P. If Mr. Bachchan opens a school in UP, is he not oxygenating the development process of the country?
Few days back, there was violence against the shopkeepers with Hindi sign boards and hoardings. They were forced to use Marathi instead of Hindi. Recently, Jaya Bachchan's unintentional remark on Hindi drew flaks from supporters of Raj. She apologized but Amitabh had to abstain from the premiere of his movie. There are certain known personalities who only use English for conversation. Why are they acceptable to the likes of Raj Thackeray?
Being sensible citizens of the country, we should be wary of this kind of dirty politics and should protest against these groups. The actions of narrow-minded politicians to garner votes have put the ordinary people's life at risk. Come on!! We are Indians. We want India to be developed. A country cannot progress with only one progressive state. To make India 'shine' we will have to be united as 'United We Stand and Divided We Fall'.