This week promised to be full of joy and excitement as everyone got in the festive mood of celebrating Diwali. It started with Dhanteras falling on Sunday, when one would buy gold or new items for their homes or for themselves. One could see the crowds pouring on the road, there was hardly any place to walk or for the vehicles to drive through causing traffic jams All this despite there being a shadow of the economy gloom looming over.

What nobody expected was how on a Monday morning going to work would end up in a harrowing time for a few commuters who found themselves being held hostage in a double decker bus that they were traveling in. In the end of the drama that ensued, the gunman was shot down by the cops. One wonders what prompted a 23 year old boy Rahul Raj to stage such a hostage situation. What were his demands?

It turns out that he hailed from Bihar. He wrote on currency notes that he wanted to kill Raj Thackrey and wanted to talk to the Police Commissioner. He said he did not want to hurt anyone. The one question that comes to the mind is was his killing justified given the circumstances and in view of his demands? Could the situation have been better handled?

One of the ironies that I failed to understand that where were this responsible cops when the MNS workers were burning places when Raj Thackrey was arrested. They vehemently justifies their act of killing someone whose demands was more kind of a voice that needed to be heard and not asking for any ransom in return of the hostages. After knowing the intentions of the boy, the cops could have handled the situation tactfully by calming him and keeping the shootout option as a last resort.

A voice that wanted to be heard though the method adopted was wrong. This goes on to show the disparity that is showing signs of being blown out of proportion because of regional politics. Monday’s incident just happens to be a small trigger of what could be installed next, if individuals like Rahul Raj decided they had enough of this and want action to be taken.

Times were different when acting as saviors of “Marathi Manoos” worked for his uncle earlier. This act won’t work today as the people of today are knowledgeable about what is happening around them, what is good and bad for them. Though the same cannot be told about the small section of the society who support this wrongly aimed cause.

Who are these “Marathi Manoos” for which political parties vie for by playing the local card? Why do they want reservations for them in every job openings? Don’t they believe in competing? What would Mumbai be if the gujratis did not set up their shops here and started trading? How about the south indians who dominate the hotel industry? What was the Marathi Manoos doing when people from other states migrated to make their dreams come true? Should they be made to pay for realizing their dreams and being competitive?

Mumbai would not have become a financial hub of the country if it was not for ‘immigrants’ who made this possible. This does not mean that people from the Marathi community are left behind. They have also made their mark in the various fields be it writing, sports, bollywood, etc. and we all know about the prominent people be it Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Tendulkar and others. It is really pathetic to see educated people stooping so low so that they could gather a vote bank for themselves.

The tragic death of Rahul Raj is just a beginning of how worse things can go. If nothing is done soon enough there could more trouble brewing up. What is appalling is that people prefer to divide themselves by state boundaries and we thought that it was only the British rule which succeeded in doing it.