Mr. Thackarey, When will you think big?

The Marathi youth today is more educated and is doing well in every sphere of life than in the past. The community is producing huge number of engineering graduates and doctors every year. Marathi youth comprises of one of the largest bunch of students from any community across India going to countries like the US for the further studies. More and more people from the community are moving to various parts of the world doing dignified jobs.

Things have become much better for the community in the last 10 years. It's not just education, today there are larger number of businesses which are now being owned by the Marathi entrepreneurs which is a matter of great pride for the community.

Whatever be the case, the “Thackarey Company” seems to be completely ignorant of all this and still wants Marathi Manoos to drive a cab or sell wada pav’s in Mumbai. I guess the limitations of their minds do not permit them to think more for the community than the job they themselves are fit for.

It’s a shame that the so called “Purogami” (Intellectually developed) land of Maharashtra has got such narrow minded politicians who have let down the ordinary Maharashtrians by their lack of thinking ability.

There are other ways to promote Marathi.

Politics in Mumbai has been centered on the topic of “Marathi” over the last 2 years and every political party has been scrambling to take up the Marathi cause ever since. Goondas from Shiv Sena and the MNS have even vandalized the city on a few occassions as if it is a desperate attempt to save the Marathi people, their language and its culture. The issue seems to have been blown up so much that it looks as if that Marathi language is about to go extinct or something

It is important to understand that Marathi is not a language spoken by just a few people in the city of Mumbai. Rather, it is one of the 15 most widely spoken languages of the world and one of the top 4 languages spoken in India. It is the oldest of the regional literatures in Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about AD 1000. There are 9.5 Crore (95 Million) speakers of Marathi Language and I think it is highly unlikely that it has any chance of going into extinction in the near future

I agree that it is important to promote the language, but there are other ways to do that. Rather than bashing up people for not being able to read Marathi or by forcefully putting up sign boards in Marathi, there needs to be attempts to promote the language through enhancing its appeal to an average Marathi household or anyone who resides in Mumbai or Maharashtra or anywhere in the world.

If one happens to look around, it’s easy to realize that there are enough good things that are already happening for the betterment of the Marathi language. Last 4 years have seen the creation of over 10 new Marathi TV channels which seem to be doing well. Marathi movies seem to be doing extremely good these days (Infact almost all big private players are entering the Marathi movie industry) and thankfully, no government or political leaders can take credit of these successes.

As far as the government goes, there seems to be a clear lack of a plan on their part as it seems to have a very little idea of what should be done towards the development of the language. In my opinion, the government should allocate more resources towards promotion of Marathi literature, art and culture. Efforts towards identifying and promoting people who want to dedicate themselves for the cause of Marathi language should be the priority rather than getting involved in petty controversies like mandatory knowledge of Marathi for the issuance of taxi permits. Such unnecessary controversies often turn detrimental for the constructive growth of the language and do more bad than good.

Also, Marathi speaking people should promote their language in a more inclusive manner which is not forceful on anyone; people are bound to take notice. A simple example is the fact that today a lot of non Marathi people are lining up to produce, direct or act in Marathi movies while nobody is forcing them to do so. Don’t you think this is a great sign of better times to come?

There is an urgent need for people to get united towards eradicating the menace of these goonda politicians who are trying to instigate Marathi people to take up wrong means. People should be sensible while supporting any political opinion towards the enhancement of the language. Yes the cause is important but so is the means

There are other ways to promote this extremely rich language.

Can you ever own Mumbai by driving Taxis??

On one hand Mr. Raj Thackeray wants the entire world to know that Mumbai and Maharashtra belong to the Marathi people, while on the other hand he also wants to make sure that all the taxis of Mumbai are driven by Marathis.... What a funny contradiction.

Does he really believe that the Marathi Manoos would be able to “own” Mumbai by driving Taxis?? Does he even know how much money does a taxi driver make in a day??? Forget owning Mumbai, can a taxi driver even own a house in this city?

On one hand he proclaims that the Marathi community has a natural right on the city and on the other hand he also wants the same Marathi Manoos do all the petty jobs like driving taxis, selling wada pavs, work as coolies on railway platforms….. What a shame.

I am a "Maratha" myself, and am someone who takes pride in being a part of this great warrior community which also boasts of a rich cultural heritage and a great history. This community has not only produced some of the greatest warrior kings and queens of all times, but also have been at the forefront of the society with some of the greatest literature, poetry, architecture and art.

Today, it is a matter of shame that the Marathi people lack good political leaders. They have to look up to people who want them to be driving taxis and selling wada pavs...