Already ripple effects of the dangerous game played by Thackeray are being felt elsewhere. In Haryana a gang of lumpens issued an ultimatum to 15,000 Maharashtrian families, their neighbours: leave or else. In Chandigarh some vague north Indian organisation hopes to garner TV attention by threatening to throw out Maharashtrians.

Can a citizen of India really be termed an outsider in his own country? It is in any case debatable how one decides who is an outsider and who a son of the soil. The MNS claims it wants to protect the character of Mumbai which is being destroyed by migrants from north India. The supporters of the MNS and Sena, mostly Marathas, believe that they should reap the benefits that accrue from living in the country’s commercial capital. But the Kolis, the fishing community that was the original dwellers of the island of Mumbai, can in turn dub the Marathas, who hail from the plains of Marathwada and not the coastal belt, outsiders. The Kolis did not benefit financially from the transformation of their once sleeping fishing villages into a major port and a commercial hub. And, of course, neither the Kolis nor the Marathas played much part in setting up the city’s financial institutions, its major landmarks, the film industry, philanthropic bodies, cultural movements, hospitals and educational institutions. It was the British, Parsees, Gujaratis, along with entrepreneurs, artistes and innovators from all over India who made Mumbai what it is today. In fact at the time of the division of Bombay state into Gujarat and Maharashtra in 1960, Gujarat maintained it had equal claim to Bombay since the city had almost similar numbers of Gujaratis and Maharashtrians then.

As with Mumbai, the demographics of many other Indian cities has radically altered. In Delhi, for instance, the original inhabitants of the walled city were swamped by the flood of Punjabi refugees who arrived after Partition. And in the last three decades, the city’s demography has altered yet again. Similarly, the original Haryanvi farmers of Gurgaon have long been outnumbered by lakhs of new apartment dwellers, who see themselves as living in a suburb of Delhi.

A country’s prosperity and progress depends on the synergy of its people. If people are to be confined to the regions where they were born, the very idea of nationhood is lost. It is troubling when irresponsible regional parties whip up chauvinist sentiment and promote an agenda of divisiveness. But it is far more disturbing when the government and the mainstream national parties refuse to take them on. In Maharashtra there is a strange silence from the main leaders in the state. The BJP, which prides itself on its nationalist outlook, does not want to upset its ally, the Shiv Sena. The Congress and NCP have been tacitly encouraging Raj Thackeray in the hope that he will cut into the support base of their main political rival, the Shiv Sena. The state chief minister sends a curious signal at this juncture by demanding that railway entrance examinations be conducted in Marathi. The mainstream parties forget that when one chooses to ride a tiger one runs the risk of being devoured, as was the case in Punjab where the Congress initially promoted the little known Bhindranwale for its own ends. If the regional parties are increasing in clout throughout India it is because of the vacuum created with the rapidly declining status of the national parties.

coomi.kapoor@expressindia.com