Apartheid in Own Country

Biharis are unwanted in Maharashtra and now in MP. Am I correct in saying that Bihar is as much a part of India as are Maharashtra and MP? One should speak only in Marathi in Maharashtra and not in Hindi in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, if your child does not study with Tamil Medium, he is not qualified to get any rank, even if he scores 1200/1200 or whatever is the upper limit. At this rate, one cannot live in some parts of his own country. Tomorrow, you cannot live in some districts (and a little later in other Talukas) of your own state and so on. Politicians may allow you to speak in your mother tongue only in your house, provided it is not audible outside. Taking cue from the direction in which we are proceeding, now every district will say that the people of other districts are not welcome. More interestingly, our friend Kapil Sibal is wooing Harvard, Yale and few other top-notch universities to set-up campuses in India. Raj will say Harvard, Mumbai has to publish their research findings in Marathi and KK will say that Yale, Chennai should publish in Tamil. This has its merits. Job opportunities for translators will increase rapidly.


I wonder whether Maharashtra, in particular Mumbai, would have been what it is today, without the enormous contributions made by non-maharastrians. Similarly, Hyderabad would not have made as much progress as it did without contributions from the people from other regions of Andhra. People are regionalised, marginalized, localized and dehumanized instead of nationalized, globalised and humanized.

Some people use the slogan ‘My India is Great’ whenever it is politically convenient. Similar and simpler slogans are catching up, thanks to their musical value and brevity. Why is it no one talks about Mother Earth and say Earth is my Mother and I shall live wherever I want? How many people realize that there is only one Earth and the boundaries are man-made? Has anyone noticed the joy of integration experienced by East & West Germanys twenty years ago despite the sacrifices involved on both the sides? These divisive politics are for creating more States; thus more CMs, more Ministers and more and faster opportunities to plunder the country.

In Andhra Pradesh, the demand for a separate Telangana state is there since AP was formed; may be even before. Essentially, AP constitutes three areas known as Telangana, Rayalaseema and Konaseema (Coastal Andhra). The ghost of enmity between these regions is created and perpetuated by the politicians. Gullible people are manipulated and threatened; employees are transferred and harassed. Rayalaseema is waiting and it will start demanding once Telangana becomes a state. In UP, MP, Bihar and elsewhere politicians have already succeeded in establishing new States as per their political convenience. They are plundering the regions with vigor. In our own country, we remain apartheid.