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.

... contd.