Mumbai: Prominent Mumbaikars pen an open letter, condemning Raj and Abu Azmi

It is with utmost dismay that we write to condemn the combative and vituperative war of words between two political party leaders, as well as the incidents of violence in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra that followed thereafter. It pains us to see Mumbai being divided on regional and linguistic lines, only to suit narrow political agendas.

Both Abu Asim Azmi and Raj Thackeray owe an apology for their words and behaviour. The law of the land must prevail.

The identity of everyone who lives and works in Mumbai is that of a Mumbaikar. Consistent, but even more important than that, is our collective identity of being Indians. Political machination may drive wedges between us as Indians and Mumbaikars.

Everyone must do his/her best to resist such attempts. No single entity - political, socio-cultural, economic - can speak on behalf of all Mumbaikars.

Mumbai is not the exclusive territory of any one community or a group of people. The socio-cultural ethos of the city is multi-hued, vibrant and composite of all those communities who have made it their home over the past centuries; it continues to evolve even today. It has the space to accommodate reflections and eccentricities of regional and linguistic cultures from other parts of the country. This, in fact, is the essence of Mumbai ethos.

There is no Constitutional validity of the claim Mumbai for Marathi, nor is there justification for resorting to violence to press that claim. While it is true that the city’s infrastructure is on the verge of collapse, it would be inappropriate to blame any particular regional group or community for it, just as the problem will not be addressed by driving them away. The state government and the city administration are solely responsible for the state of affairs.

Yours sincerely
Chitra Palekar, Ratnakar Matkari, Kiran Nagarkar, Arjun Dangle, Tushar
Gandhi, Darryl D’Monte, Sanjeevani Kher, Jayant Kher, Smruti Koppikar, Jatin Desai and Ramesh Pimple.

Source : DNA