mumbai is only for marathis then people who think so dont know that we are one under union of india and place like chandigarh which is a union territory and serves capital both to chandigarh and punjab . what should happen there . they should fight then. president should declare mumbai as union territory

This is the first article written by Jug impressed me. I wish you will write more constructive and nationalistic blog in future too.

Newton once said "a problem cannot be solved at the same level of mind it originated at. you have to raise your level of mind one level". If one sees a solution of the issue of regional chuvinism in retaliating elements like MNS/Sena, it actually worsens the problem by growing no. of its sympathizers. Same with Kashmir, send article 370 to trash after 60 years of pampering the issue and see how Lal chawk of Srinagar literally turns so. The solutions are not always black and white becasue real world is not so either. Understand people and their sensibilities to understand their problems; first step towards solution.

Mr. Jug Suraiya I think your article is the 2nd part of the Article "The Second Flag" written by Mr. Tarun Vijay on this blog just few days back. The difference is that your article is in the back ground of the recent controversy raised by Shive Sena "Mumbay for Marathi Manoos" and Mr. Tarun Vijay's article is in the back ground of Republic Day Celebrations.
We all know that Kashmir has been a very sensitive issue for all Indians since 1947. So far we know that the case of Kashmir is very different from the rest of the Indian States. There was a Treaty between the Government of India and the Head of the Kashmir State to conduct a plebiscite from Kashmiri people and according to the will of the people the decision should be taken for Kashmir. As the result of that treaty Kashmir was given a special status in the Constitution of India under Article 370 and it was enumerated in the Preamble of Constitution of India that "INDIA WHICH SHALL BE CALLED AS BHARAT SHALL NOT INCLUDE THE TERRITORY OF KASHMIR".
We do not know why this issue could not be resolved for a long period of sixty two years of time either way but even then people and specially the journalist and writers should at least understand that the Kashmir issue is a separate and different from any other Indian State.

Article 370 once again has come to haunt Indians. This mistake should have been addressed long time ago. The very concept of a special deal for one part of India is wrong and unless it is done away soon, it will cause many problems for the unification of India into a nation of one people. Let India do away the curse of Article 370.

Well said the politicians should leave thier dirty politics behide and think for the growth of country.They are for the growth and devolpement of country and to make the borders secure, by doing this type of dirty politics, they are just polluteing the minds of people.This is the era of combined efforts not to devide the people just for their own selfish mottoes.On one hand they are fighting that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are integral part of india on other hand they are playing with the people and deviding inside by restricting the movement.What they want to show and where is democracy if people are not free to move. Better instead fighting inside make combined effort to make really incredible India.

Jug u have hit the right notes to teh T. Now let us see what the pseudo secularists have to say on that. let us abolish article 370 and move with the times.

It is very True! India should be for all indians.

i am with shiv sena. They are talking sense. UP's and Biharis have spoilt Mumbai.

What is at stake in Kashmir is the muslim identity while it is the Marathi language in Mumbai. Knowing the fact that Mumbai is a metro-city, imposing Marathi at this stage is too late. If the Sena is bent on their demands then the Central Government must take this city over and make it a union territory. With regard to Kashmir, the Hindus who were driven out must be allowed to reside there regardless of whether muslim identity of the state is at risk or not. As you said, any part of India must belong to all Indians but just to keep the Indian languages alive, people must be given incentives of some sort for knowing the regional languages.

a very thaught out article which the so called liberals must answer before they stones at others.

BALA SAHIB'S FRUSTATION OF LOOSING ELECTIONS ONE AFTER THE OTHER IS LEADING TO THE THIS STATEMENTS. HE COULD NOT CONTROL HIS NEPHEW( RAJ- MNS) WHO HAS GONE OUT OF BOUNDS WITH THE HELP OF THE CONGRESS.
NOW HE WANTS TO REIGN MUMBAI BY THE DIVISIVE SLOGANS.
THIS WRITE UP IS NOT TO SIDE THE NORTH INDIANS OR BIHARIS OR U.Pians, but to criticize the Bala Sahib's thought process.
Even his mentor Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his followers Baji Rao Peshwa / Holkar/ Bhonsle/Gaikwad/ Scindia never thought Maratha as a separate entity.
Contribution to making Mumbai, what it is today ,comes from all walks of the people.
BJP is right in reminding Bala Sahib that Mumbai is not covered by Article 370- which gives a special status to a state or a town.

The whole India is for all Indians.

Mumbai only belongs to Maharashtra. Article 370 be applied for Mumbai.

This is strange but true ! Bal Thakre too can invoke article 370 to deny entry in to Mumbai to ALL Indians.Kashmiris would continue it more virulantly to deny entry to Marathi Manoos in the valley !
Mr Suraiya is right about uselessness of this article.It has not served the purpose of Kashmiris. Instead of ordinary Indians, they encounter soldiers everywhere.In the votebank politics, no political party would want to touch it.It is for Kashmiris themselves to announce its decent burial.Time has come to develop Kashmir as an an IT, Education and Health Tourism hub.Kashimiris should not mind if more techies, educationists, doctors and tourists flock to the valley.
Looking at Pak occupied Kashmiris' conditions, Paki twist to the tale is long gone.Pakistanis these days are more worried about bombs in their own back yards and the balance of payments in their banks than illusive Azadi for their brothren across the border.

Its not the Sena-Parivar 'shouting match' that has opened the can of worms on article 370. Its blinded 'liberals' like Nehru who put compromising politics above national ethos.

Today, liberals like you are realising their folly - but cant find a way of accepting your mistakes of namby-pamby liberal doublespeak.

Its time the 'liberals' stood up to the plate and accept that they have damaged the nation more than the RSS which claims unabashedly the right to a civilisational unity as the basis of our nationhood.

Maharashtra (M) and states like bihar,UP (X) are like siblings.M is fortunate enough to have a pen(Opprotunities) which X does not have.M is happy to share it when it doesn't need it.When it does need the pen for himself he will rightly fight for it with the X as it doesn't have a choice.
As X also need one he must ask for it to mother (Central Govt.) as it has long been deprived of the luxury of pen(opportunities).Thus bleming M will not be a proactive solution to the problem.

At least M is making X to ask for its right to have pen.If X gets one in future;then both of them will be able to share the pens happily without any present descrimination .

I totally agree to what Jug has said in his blog. Although, I do not support the voilence that the Sena and the MNS are causing in Maharashtra, but I feel that their motive is surely not wrong or is not at all "spreading hatred or disparity" which has been constantly and unnecessarily highlighted by the media. The media is not seeing or rather, does not want to see the other side of the coin. SS & MNS motive is very simple. To stay in Maharashtra, one needs to respect and get mixed with the Marathi culture, and that's all. This motive is constantly abused by the Lalus and Paswans for their votebank politics, which leads to this clash. Also, it is absolutely not wrong to expect from majority of the taxi drivers (and also the migrated people from other parts of India) in Mumbai to be able to understand and speak Marathi after spending so much time im Mumbai and interacting in public, since it is assumed that the taxi drivers are living in Mumbai for the past 15 years (domicile certificate rule for obtaining the taxi license). Even in other states like Gujrat, TN, Karnataka etc (where local language is different than Hindi), we rarely find a rikshaw walla who does not know and is not ready to interact in the local language. And this is a very true fact !!! I know quite a few Gujratis, Parsis, Bengalis, Rajasthanis and even some Biharis who speak and understand Marathi well after living in Mumbai for a good amount of time and can get mixed in any part of Maharashtra. Similarly, I even know some people who have migrated to Mumbai from other states and spent most of their lives in Mumbai, but don't know Marathi (rather they know the language very well, but do not want to interact in it). In my opinion, the Congress should delete the article 370 from our constitution & ammend that every Indian can stay, live and purchase property in any part of India. Also, the local language should be declared as the official language of the state. This issue shall only be resolved then.

I feel this drama is a new tactic by the Radical elements in RSS/Shiv Sena to boost their almost non- existent political presence in our India.
The RSS head has to be apprciated for this Chanakya style of thinking.
If Bal Thakeray accedes Bombay to Indians then Kashmir separatists better accede Kashmir to Indians.

Thank God some one has taken it right. The demand for regional & sub- regional protectionism will increase unless we treat every indian equally, irrespective of any distinctions.

We will have to have strong enforcement of laws particularly for protection of weak.
But this will not happen. Bcoz ,as you have rightly put it,
of vote bank Politics.
Secularist will continue to condemn Shiv Sena without reffreing to Kashmir and Kashmiri Minority Hindu community.

The Thakrey's are a bunch of "a*******s" trying desperately for their "loosers "(read Raj & Udav) to enter politics. That's the reason trying all the tactics to win favor. Now when the time is ripe for India to move ahead and make its own position in the international arena, loosers like these are pulling it back. People who would fall for this must be insane. Time has come for India to be seen among the developed nations. We all have to work hard to build our nation, but not by following what some looser, iliterate Thakrey says to us. Miles to go before we sleep.

While it is easy to get drowned under the arguments of regional, lingusitic or even religious uniqueness and hence preferences, in reality the conflicts such as Mumbai for only Marathis have more to do with simple "job availability opportunities". The sad truth is that despite different political parties enjoying power in the Center as well in states, very little has been done to create job opportunities in 'northern' cities such as Lucknow, Kanpur, Patna, Bhopal, Jaipur etc in last 60 years. There is no reason why at least one or more of these should not have become another Bangalore or even Hyderabad leave alone Mumbai so that people in search of jobs could have been more evenly distributed. The harsh fact is that urban infratructure in megapolises like Mumbai and Delhi is severely strained. One shudders to think what would happen 20 or 30 years from now. Petty politicians will always fish in the troubled waters to make things even worse. It is time saner people apply their minds to potential urban chaos towards which we are surely and steadily heading.

a very thaught out article which the so called liberals must answer before they stones at others.

before writing any article like this can i please request you to go through the hsitory first.. you can never compare the state of kashmir with mumbai as kashmir has the special status because of its history. It is still a disputed territory according to United nations which is not the case with mumbai. by the way some more people like thakeray,s and india will divided into 28 pieces. Need to stop these guys here.

See at this juncture article 370 to be imposed in any state is not practically possible however mayhem may be created by the locals.
As for Kashmir it should be demolished once and for all.The sooner the better.
Kashmir issue can be resolved and killings of innocents could be stopped if our Govt.takes a firm action.Somebody has to break the ice.

Politicians apart, the 'learned' people are acting funny. Nobody wants to address the root cause. Definitely, heart of heart, Mumbai has given thousands of Indians (non - marathis) wealth and fame. People are welcome, but not in train loads each and every day. The Hindi belt has to improve and stop squeezing the limited resources of Mumbai and Delhi.

finally the so called intellectual media person like you talked sensible.. I heartily appreciate your opinion on article 370.. RSS has been raising this issue since ages but no govt in action takes any action this.. just with fear of loosing minority vote bank.. we actually need media ppl like you to raise this issue and make it a topic of debate.. good article MR Suraiya.. better late than never.. :)

NOW THE TIME HAS COME TO MAKE INDIA AVAILABLE TO ALL INDIANS. BE IT BOMBAY OR KASHMIR. HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES TO DO IT, IT SHOULD BE DONE. THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT HAS TO MAKE SURE THAT IT HAS THE POWER TO BUILD INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF INDIA. THIS WILL UNIFY THE COUNTRY AND ALLOW PEOPLE AND GOODS TO MOVE FREELY, THERE BY IMRPOVING COMMERCE AND TRADE IN INDIA. THIS SHOULD BE THE GOAL. AFFULENT CITIZENS DO NOT THINK OF SANG PARIVAR, OR SHIV SENA. THEY ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING MORE AFFULENT. THE CITIZENS THAT WOULD SUPPORT THESE IDIOTS WILL BE THE POOR THAT HAVE NOTHING TO EAT. SO DR. MANMOHAN SINGH SHOULD MAKE IT HIS PRIORITY TO BUILD ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH THE LENGTH AND BREATH OF INDIA.

shiv sena & MNS, both are bloody hypocrites... first they beat the people of other states & then they tell the Aussies players not to come to Bombay because of the same things that has been going on involving Indian student.

Both these parties are extremely stupid... i wonder when they gonna stop this nonsense.

It really pains when we see are country getting divided once again now on basis of regionalism.Its analready volatile country and are smart politicians exploit for there political games.Some how yes it is right that there is presure on metros but do people of this country have an option.I am myself a migrant from punjab to delhi who wishes that some day chandigarh will also have opportunites and I can go back .I wish my wait is not endless

i think constitution should change . if there are problems regarding sttlement of indians in various indian states,job wise etc , in a democratic country one has to debate the issue or have referendum or take a vote on the issue in the parliament.It is better to resolve the issue which is causing pain to every indian who understand the issue.There are certain bad elements in every state as i see it will be appropriate to move lots of industries out of mumbai too.It is not very nice to have lots of people living in one town because there are job opportunities there. job oppotunity should spread all over the india.It requires planning and effort.Industrist should think to go to underdevelop area to open new factories or service related industries . there is no point in living getoes and sky high flats.mumbai and other towns requires town planning so every citizen should have space to enjoy life.it requires re planning .17 million people in mumbai ??? it is difficult to manage other services.for better quality of life one need samll towns with job opportunities.

Who are these so-called liberals? Congressmen or Samajwadis or Lalluites or Pawarites or the Communists? The whole lot stink as they have at some time or other and in some cases even now (like Marxists in Kerala are in cahoots with Madani)were in alliance with fundamentalist elements like Muslim League or is it that only Hindus can be conservatives/rightwingers/jingoists/fascists, etc and other religionists can assume whatever attitude and beliefs that suit them? I think we have had enough minority appeasement. The enlightened sections of the society should come out of the fixation and should act as opinion makers for the sake of unity of the country and its perpetuation as a democratic, really secular and really liberal (not the phony kind referred to by the author opposing whatever RSS/BJP does, blindly) entity.

India is a place for all Indians and all Indians have the rights to stay anywhere in India. No one has the rights to say "Mumbai is only for Marathi people." Whatever Sivasena peoples are doing is totally nonsense. They are breaking the unity of Indian people by saying "You are from Bihar, so you can't say in Mumbai." India has many problems to solve like, Unemployeement, Poverty, Financial stability......and many more. But these types of unnecessary issues ( that Sivsena peoples are raising) are creating barriers in the improvement of India. I am in the against of that. We should concentrate only in the 6things that will help in the improvement of India. Not these types of issues. The problem with Sivasena people is they want to highlight themselves by raising these types of issues. They should feel shame for doing all these types of things.

First I want to commend Mr. Jug Suraiya for taking a disinterested look on this issue in his article instead of muddying it with inherent biases based on once language and origin. On the other hand Shobhan Saxena took a biased look at this issue and used his position of Sunday Times editor as a bully pulpit to advance his own petty opinion instead of unbiased analysis. Shobhan should be ashamed of being a journalist. Article 370 is the core issue that rattles many of us where one state gets special status. This article has made Jammu and Kashmir country within country with its own citizenship laws and its own flag. What infuriates true Indian is that these people who claim India is one and Mumbai belongs to India are not ready to fight for this right in Kashmir. They are too scared to even raise their voice let alone fight for the Kashmiri pundits. Another argument that is flawed is that Mumbai is made by Brilliant business men from North India. Granted most of the businesses are started by non-Marathis but not by North Indians don’t take credit away from Gujratis, Marwadis, South Indians and even Marathis many of whom run small businesses. If these North Indian business men are that good why didn’t they start businesses in states like Bihar and UP. There is a reason; along with good business men you need pro business policies, good infrastructure, safe environment, respect for rule of law, protection of property rights etc. All this Maharashtra provided and other states didn’t, they were too happy to be socialist taking dole outs from center for their survival. Northern states like Bihar and UP need to implement good policies and start respecting rule of law. This will bring business and prosperity to their states and then their populace doesn’t have to migrate en masse in search of living. Message this whole episode sends to other states is that if you develop your state then we will come and trash you and claim every thing. That is a nice message to send.

Maharastrian have sacrified alot in name of untity of nation, its time to say no to injustice against locals.

Its time that aritcle 370 is invoked for Mumbai and other develop cities like Bangalore or we will face the same trouble as Kashmir, We can understand migration from north in limit for search of employment. Un accountable migratating to other states from northern states is something not easy to digest.

India is one of the most liberal countries in the world. Weather it is China or Pakistan or any other large country one does not have such a liberty to speak freely. Nor has India initiated attack on any other country as most of the global powers have. Although we have always had internal conflicts in our past. It is high time that various cultures and casts start merging together so that we get highly rich and plural culture without any conflict. We can then together fight for the global causes such as elimination of poverty, women empowerment, peace and prosperity.

The Hindi-speaking public cannot and will not understand that the regional language is of utmost importance to the local people (whether in Maharshtra or Bengal or Tamil Nadu). This is because their mother-tongue and the national language are one and the same.
They find it illogical and inappropriate if people speaking any other language want to preserve their linguistic heritage. They label the regional-language-advocates as "anti-nationals".
Hindi-speaking janata should understand that any local language in India is as Indian as Hindi is. It has a right to be spoken in its native state, and people from outside states must respect the language and learn it asap.

Coming back to the issue at hand, I disagree with some people's opinion that J&K should be given different status for purchase of immovable property law. If people are allowed to buy property in Kashmir, we can hope that business and other activities, if not flourish, will at least return to normalcy. But of course, not at the cost of Kashmiri culture. It must, undoubtedly, be preserved.

This should be considered as a blessing in disguise. Kashmir finally has an ally. That also from most Indian of Indian setting. Let us stop moving against the tide. If you are a Marathi, you are a Marathi, if not, you are not. And now more and more of Marathis, MNS and Shivsainiks being just their mouthpieces, realize something bad to talk of about Biharis, Upians, or just anyone not a Marathi. It is high time that we stop grouping ourselves together. India is not meant for a single race, language as the ruling elite would want but a mind boggling set of different pulls and this is what that should identify the great Indian Empire.

Biggest of the side-effect that should be worked about is bringing back Bombay, Bambai and various names for the city. We should not have any right to distort any one's tongue. Let Kashmir see itself as a part of a huge, immensely divisive land rather than a one-faced, "hindu", bullying India.

Think of a railway compartment. Don’t we travel together? Are we not happy to come across various species that God offers? If we could manage a train journey why not that of the nation?

We should become a land that assimilates everything without actually doing so.

China vs Tibet and India Vs J&K! China was much poorer than India but successfully annexed Tibet by granting equal status to rest of chinese to live and do business in Tibet. Today India and rest of the world have supported Chinese in doing so but India still struggling for J&K. This kind of affair needs swift and massive actions but fools are sitting in Parliament of India.
Not only they are fighting for J&K but losing their own territory to Balkanization from Assam to Punjab and Telangana, Maharashtra etc

Jug makes some good points although he reveals his bias by making unsubstantiated allegations against the Sangh Parivar by saying that they want to settle Hindus in Kashmir !

Great article. Mypoint of disagreement is with ur statement that the Sangh wants to saffronise the valley. You are using a wrong term. Demographic changes are required so that people who are proud of being Indians settle there. This is very important if we want the Kashmiri Pandits to return safe and sound and avoid discrimination against them.

btw aren't the 'liberals' being illiberal if they don't want article 370 to go?

why r u dragging kashmir into this controversy,the author should know his history well before writing ,there was a conditional accession of the kashmir state with the union of india, if indians did not like the conditions they should not have accepted them at that time and kashmiries would have thought of other options.India cant go back on its committments ,anation is known by the word it gives and keeps.

mumbai is following the tracks of calcutta of 1980's.
please don't discriminate..

Kashmir is different. In Kashmir there are gunless terrorists. We need to tackel them differently. MNS or Shiv sena is well organised parties.

People of Kashmir are fed up with stone pelters mafiya. Some muslims say 7th standard student can not be terrorist but Allaha says i will put 5th standard boy in HELL after death. so Govt of India can Kill a 5th standard student if he is a stone pelter because throwing stone or firing bullet are equal offence.

For every against argument one will find a favor argument,so there is no point discussing this issue back and forth. What ever your view is, be it for or against any stand ( shivsena/MNS or rest of India) stick to your stand, just understand one simple point that those guys are playing politics and in the end we are going to suffer( whichever stand you take), so please understand uniting is always better than dividing. You pick.Peace and love.

Worst is yet to come, wait till the population touches 2 billion plus by 2020.Major world cities like London have 50 per cent foreigners, Mumbai is not an exception.

I believe all part of India belongs to all Indians and what MNS and SS is advocating is wrong.
it is the the slogan"Mumbai belongs to marathi's" that every body especially congress and pro congress media crows as unconstitutional and illegal is the center of the controversy now..
i also agree with them.
so if you take that same standard is it not the the statement that PM Manmohan singh made "Minorities have the first right to resources of the country" unconstitutional and illegal?.
Further though SS and MNS are making all the fuzz the fact of the matter is millions of people from other states are living peacefully in Mumbai and earning their living.Even now everyday trains from UP and elsewhere are bringing in more and more people to Mumbai who come seeking a livelihood.On the contrary,not only no person from other state can settle in Kashmir because of art370,the rightful sons of Kashmir,the Hindu pundits who were cleansed out of the state and are refugees in their own country and is not able to go back and live safely.The media and congress governments at center & state of J&K should first work to honorably settle Pundits back in Kashmir.
The media which royally ignored or downplayed the 20th anniversary of the cleansing of Hindu pundits from Kashmir is blowing this "Mumbai for whom?" issue unnecessarly big only to advance congress's political plan.

I read this article but at the end my situation is the same as the person who heard the whole of Ramayana and in the end asked " Who is Sita to Rama". I am bit of dunce probably that I cannot understand anything unless told plainly. It is obviously a comparison of the present situation in Mumbai and the long standing situation in Kashmir. Kashmir's 370 problem is 63 yrs old. Mumbai's 370 is not that old. It is more or less like a new born. The impregnation might have taken long back when the Sena was conceived. But the gestation period has been pretty long and it came out with MNS bashing the North Indians. If it is not tackled before it becomes a monster the whole nation will have to regret. Once this 'sons of the soil' virus starts growing the cancer will spread to all parts of India. Next in line is Bangalore where this linguistic chauvanism and sons of the soil demands are coming up on and off. And in no time India will be split into so many quarelling states. It will be a country as a whole entity only in paper. It will be all Kashmirs then. This should not be allowed to happen. It should be stamped down with a firm foot. Otherwise we will go back a thousand years in matter of hundred.

Dear Jug,
I have been reading your article for quite a long time and always found it -out of context-and very biased and sometimes anti-india.I sometimes also got the feeling that you must have spent your childhood in some europian country that is why you keep on critisizing our country always.
This is the first time you have sensibly written an article.Congrats !!!!!
Till the time we will not abolish the special status of kashmir ....world will treat kashmir like that...article 370 is like SC/ST reservation.
everyone knows its WRONG but no one wants to bell the cat.
Regards,

Mr. Suriya has the art of quickly forgetting what he himself has written just a few months ago. While the hindus of jammu were fighting for the right to put up a shanty town on the amarnath route, Mr. Suriya was making us the holy recommendation to allow kashmir to secede from India in accordance with "popular" sentiment.

Now he suddenly discovers the virtues of united India. And the faults of the "secular" indians that maintain the sanctity of article 370.

its just a upcoming election stunt will not last very long , something similar to last year tension over mumbai , there are better problems to focus on ..

I agree with the points raised by Jug. Congress has always been a pseudo secular party with very low moral ethics. All this started from Nehru and its continuing till now. I am not a supporter of regionalism or communalism, but I do feel that the MNS, Shiv Sena and alike comprise of a balancing force thats extremely necessary in our country. If its left to congress alone, they will take no time in painting the whole country green with allies like SP, BSP, Muslim League and the communists. We want the tricolor to retain all three colors...not just green.

It is a fallacy to say that liberals are in favor of Article 370.
India is for all Indians. Article 370 should be repealed. The RSS is right on this one issue.

Unfortunately, my full comments have not been given in reply to the comments of Mr. Masoom Rahmani. There was no treaty between the govt. of India and the then Maharaja of J&K regarding any plebiscite. The Maharaja of J&K had simply signed an instrument of accession with India just like other princely States of India viz., Nabha, Patiala, Jaipur, Jodhpur etc. The matter was referred to the UN by Pandit Nehru and it was at UN that Pakistan had raised the issue of plebiscite. India had set a pre-condition that plebiscite can be held only if Pakistan vacates all parts of Kashmir illegally held by it through invasion but Pakistan has not done this so far. Rather it has gifted away some territories of J&K acquired illegally by it to China and included some other parts in Pakistan while retaining some portion which it calls "Azad" Kashmir but is actually Pak Occupied Kashmir.

This incidence is paining all Indians since long last but nothing concrete was done by any of the Political Parties due to their vested interests. However would like to say thanks to Rahul Gandhi to say something on this topic on yesterday. Being BJP confused at their end only, a ray of hope can come thru Congress only.

kashmir issue involves line of control, border with china, waiting taliban across the border!! jug suriya get your facts right!! mumbai and kashmir issue are like north pole and south pole!!

if the political parties and the country can accept calmly that kashmir is for kashmiris , then what's wrong with the sena saying that mumbai is for marathis - we should either reject both the stands or accept both - how's it that the kashmir one is acceptable the mumbai one is not.

Claiming cities and states belonging to a particular group, on the basis of linguistic or regional chauvinism has become a fad these days by political parties which failed to muster support from the people and play to the emotional passions of masses to gain ground to attain power by hook or crook. The best examples in the country are held by Thackerays of Maharastra and K.Chandrasekhararao of TRS in A.P. All civilized people should denounce this especially at a time when India is making roads ahead in the world stage to become an economically stronger power. These divisive powers should be combated by all progressive forces of India and make them defeated otherwise this country will be divided into tiny parts weakened with its resources down, and face a much worse situation than the present Pakisthan.

It has been 62 years since independence. Article 370 was formed to give a special status to Kashmir because it was the demand of time. But now Kashmir does not need a special status. Article 370 needs to be abolished. According to me it is nuisance at this age and also anti Indian. Abolishing article 370 will solve most of the problems. let this be the precedence lets integrate every state let all of them have same status (no special status). I know there will be extreme resistance in the beginning but it will augur well for India and Kashmir in the long run.

I dont think Shiv Sena is wrong in asking for priority for son of soils. If the smiler issue was in Bihar and people from all over india were migrating then I am sure Nitish or others would hv come forward with smiler to what Shiv Sena is saying. Its shame that politicans in Upo and Bihar are busy making mournaments, parks and filling thier pockets instead of creating Jobs for people to stop their state people migrating to other states for work.

Now you are blowing Balasaheb's statements out of proportion. Balasaheb is as patriotic as anybody of you. He is not denying the fact that the city like Mumbai should not have talent from across the country. He also agrees that Mumbai belongs to all Indians. However, his mere point is while Mumbai belongs to everybody, Marathi people should have the first right since it is the capital of Maharashtra. Does that make him wrong? If marathi people are not going to get first right in their own state then where else should they get it? Media is misrepresenting the statements and stand of Balasaheb and is determined to create his image as a spoiler and Hitler. That is not the case. Yes, it is contribution from whole country that has made Mumbai what it is today. But make a note that they could do so because this states and its people provided them with right environment and ground to do so. It is not like Kashmir where people are opposed to developement. We want development in Maharashtra and we are aware that the growth can happen only with the contribution of entire country. But in the process, we, the natives of Maharashtra should also get our due and our rights as citizens of this state. Is there anything wrong with this expectation? Thats what exactly Balasaheb means. We Maharashtrians are as patriotic as anbody else in this country. The business is flourishing in this state since last 60 years and Shiv Sena is present for last 40 years. Then why it is only now that the issue of Marathis and non Marathis is raised. This is because it is height of oppression of the rights of Marathi manoos in his own state. They are feeling threatened and insecured in their own state. Marathi schools are getting closed. In other schools, Marathi is made optional language. Can you imagine Bengali language being optional subject in Bengal or Tamil languages being optional Our great congress government has no lingual policy and they are not bothered about it.

The bottom line , is if you dont like India please leave the country. No one is forcing you to live here and India is for Indians , not pakis, or nepalis.

Kashmir is part of India , if war is the answer so be it

FULLY AGREE.SPOT ON.

Hey, Sainiks! Shut up and sit down! You don't own Mumbai. It is a part of India NOT a part of Shiv Sena's property.

Mr Suraiya has really surprised me, till the other day I considered him a part of the group that claims to be 'Liberal' and 'Secular' (and our media faithfully passes it on to us). Perhaps more mature and certainly nowhere near the fanaticism of our Secular Gods, but I for one, never doubted which side he will stand when the counting gets underway.

But let us admit this guys, after this article, he runs serious risk of being exposed by our Secular Gods. Exposed for what: Aaah don't we know, he always had a fascist (a bit of diversion, but just for abundant clarity, it is the Hindu Fascism, I am referring to, which incidentally has been the only real fascism that has ever existed on earth. Nazis stole the blueprints, but obviously, lacked the staying power that Fascist Hindus have mastered more than 4000 years ago!) steak and he is finding it difficult to hide anymore!

Because, In our Liberal Secular Speak, if RSS stands against 370, it is "communalism", if it stands against SS-MNS, it is merely being "opportunistic" or some similar reason, we must find out. But when Congress stands for 370 it is being 'secular' and when it speaks against SS-MNS, it is because Congress (actually it is the family) is the "only one" who has consistently stood by the idea of an 'Inclusive', 'Plural' and 'Secular' India!!

Once we grasp this foundational truth, it would be easy for everyone (especially those who think that the word "liberal" means what they read in some std dictionary or who innocently, believe and claim that Liberals oppose 370) to understand why Indic-Liberals support article 370 for Kashmir and oppose the Uniform civil code.

lets us all tweet guys, #scrap370 on twitter. for our beloved country.

Religion and language are the worst enemy India has. Are the educated deaf and dumb? I cannot imagine the stupidities. If we are going to behave like Mumbai for Maharashtrians, then let us divide India by which idol we worship or do not, by dialect we speak and which side of the bed we get up. Folks we need to think and be rationale. Shiv Sena says no western influence and it turns around and wishes people "Bara Din" and "New Year" vert western symbols.

Siva Sena is a SHAME to MUBAI, Maharashtra and INDIA. We talk about about racist attacks on INDIANs in Australia or abroad. They are creating rasicm on an INDIAN in INDIA.
Every INDIAN should boycott such parties, their men and their comments.

If the argument of Jug is extended then India will soon break up into 600 provinces as it was before, ruled by individual Raja, Maharaja's, Nawabs, Zamindars etc. We dont want a repeat of history, do we ? Kashmir is an exceptional case and should no way interfere with the idea of India, which is Unity in Diversity and Secularism. Politicians with narrow, parochial, regional and chauvinistic outlook will always make an attempt to divide and break this great Country. They have to be shown their place.

You mentioned Article 370 enforced in J&K, but very conveniently forget 371A to 371F which is enforced in north-eastern states. Shall I know why? I also denounce the attitude of RSS, MNS but being a journalist I never expose something and hide something. When both the articles stand for same. 371 should have been also mentioned in your write up.

All those people who say that the immigrants have built Mumbai or Mumbai would not have been Mumbai had they not contributed to its progress, should ask themselves whether they contributed to Mumbai or Mumbai contributed to their progress ? If you guys are so intelligent, resourcefull in building this great city, why you were not able to build another Mumbai in their own states ? Why they are running away from their own town / city / village? No one invited you to come and build this city, every one came for his own self interest, becuase this city and people of this city (Marathis) offer them conducive environment a pieceful life. when goondas and mafia in UP n Bihar had you guys run away from your beloved states , you were thinking that mumbai and Maharashtra is much safer place than goondaraj in UP n Bihar. So guys be gratefull to Mumbai , Maharashtra and its people rather than crying foul.

Kashmir is a disputed territory, that is why the matter is in UNO. Who should have Kashmir and how much of it, is disputed since partition. Maharashtra is like TN, UP etc is not. No comparison.

Reminds me of Calcutta of the 1970's. How Jyoti Basu and comrades systematically managed to downgrade the city of choice to one of the lowly ranked cities. Now it is Mumbai's turn. I wonder if the well wishers of Banglore will be the next in line.

The only way to resolve this is to remove the border between India and Pakistan and let the youth of both countries decide the new order of government along the lines of the European union. This way the Kashmir issue is resolved for ever. I have met both Indians and Pakistani youth in other countries and in their own countries and they all agree just how frustrated they are by politicians on both side of the boarder using the Kashmiri issue for their own short term gains. Tell me the difference between Pakistani students and Indian students at Oxford or Havard. I bet you anything that you can't tell a pakistani from an Indian. They live together, socialise together and stand together. So why not just use the talents of both countries and create an greater India?

Some of the Indian States seriously need to control excessive BREEDING. Sometimes I wonder about our politicians .. they cant fix situations in their own states and de-stabilise other states.

I possibly do not completely understand the issue in discussion as I hv no political background or interest in politics, but I do have one question: Assuming that Article 370 Special Status to Kashmir is abolished, what next? Is one really expected to believe that the Thackarey's etc. will stop raising the Marathi manoos issues? Or that they will stop troubling the Non-marathis present in Maharashtra. The fact is that Mumbai is where it is today, largely because of the Non-Maharashtrian families that went into business there. The Ambanis have their base there. Does bal thackarey even realize the possible implications of pushing all the business out of mumbai to other states? Mamata Banerjee is often still in a soup for her land agitation efforts which led the Nano out of Bengal and into Gujarat. Who has come to the rescue of the many fabrication units which increased capacities in anticipation of work load from Nano projects? The politicians target the junta that is in majority while forgetting that it is actually a relatively much smaller population of the state that is actually making the state prosperous. To make Marathi a political issue is definitely not in the benefit of the state.