Dear Mr. Thackeray,
I was wondering how to address you, should I call you ‘Raj Dada’, only Raj, Raj T (well, that would be too South Indian!) or you know, Raj ‘Bhaiyya’ since all people know that it means elder brother in Hindi and is not derogatory at all. Confused was I, so stuck to a formal Mr. Thackeray! My apologies for seeming so formal! 🙂
How are you? No doubt in great spirits after your party’s success in the recent polls! Well, I would be too if I were in your place! Congratulations on the win! 13 seats in your very first state elections is a great achievement!
Well all the buzz about your win has now almost died down. The media is now starting to forget your win. Everything is returning back to normal. So I’ll ask you a question which everyone asks but few people ever answer this question readily and to the point…
Pudhe Kay?
What next?
You would say, why are you asking me this question? I am not in power! The Congress party is ! Ask this question to Mr. Ashok Chavan or any other Congress leader, not me! You are right! But you know what, I have no hopes from those guys and their party! We’ve all seen what they have done for the past two terms! You are the person I have set my hopes on. You are the one, well, for the time being.
From the moment you have established your party to this moment, I have been following your actions. Primarily because everyone in my family talked about you and they believed in you and your ability to lead. I even attended your first meeting at Shivaji Park for the same reason! I left the meeting an excited individual, adrenaline flowing through my veins! Yes, there was a leader amongst us who would make Maharashtra ‘the state the world envies’- in your own words!
However then happened the incident of beating up the cabbies and I lost my faith in you. Bashing up of hardworking individuals just because they are from some other states just because you were pissed off with Amar Singh and Abu Azmi is not justified! These same people stay on roads at night and take you places when you need them! They stay away – thousands of miles if they are not in Mumbai- away from their loved ones, sleep uncomfortably in their taxis and your workers just go and beat them up? And what’s with the destruction of the public and state property by your party workers when you were arrested? Is this justified? Do tell me kindly how destroying public and state property is going to advance the state apart from making losses for the state? And was it not your duty to ‘calm’ your party workers and tell them to quit the crap? Isn’t it a leader’s job to lead his people – in the right direction? Or is it just to sit back and enjoy the media attention you are receiving? I wonder why this was not highlighted by our great media – they did manage to tell the world that a police officer brought home made food for you! Great!
And on top of that you justify your actions by saying that you did this for the Marathi people! Do tell me kindly when have the Marathi people advocated violence? This has done nothing more than defile the community! Given a bad name to us! I do agree that what your ‘opponents’ have done is not right but the way your party workers reacted is not right!
You may say that I hate you and that is why I am telling you this, but the truth is, I believe you can take the state great places – if what you say in your speeches is true – and I just do not want you to blow up your chance leading us to miss out on a good leader!
You are a great orator, you study people very well, your remarks on your oppositions are truly – i daresay- awesome! I just read your interview that day in a popular daily and was pleased with your statements about working for the state and using this opportunity to do good for the people! I just hope that you can live up to your own statements, I just hope that MNS does not turn out to be another Shiv Sena!
Do you know why I am telling you all this? It is because people believe in you. When you stand up to speak they value each of your words like a drought-ridden farmer values rain-drops! They hang on to your every word. They believe that you are the change that this state needs! That you are the change that each one of us here has been awaiting!
Each parent here believes that you are the one who can make education sensible and affordable for their kids!
Each person going to office believes that you can provide him a secure Mumbai – if not Maharashtra!
Each poor person believes that you can provide him an affordable dwelling!
Each person in a dilapidated building believes that you can save him from the Builder’s goons!
Each farmer of this state has hopes in his eyes that you are the one who will stop him from committing suicide!
Each person believes that Vidarbha should not just be known for farmer suicides!
Each person here believes that you have the capability to rid us of load shedding and bring good,clean sources of power!
Each policeman on bandobast duty thinks that you are the one who will make their life better!
Each person believes that your rule could in the future get rid of the Naxals near Gadchiroli!
Each person from the lower-strata of the society believes that you are the one who will elevate them from the hell called Lower-class!
Each one of us here who has voted for your party (Yes, I did vote for MNS!) believes that you can do it for our state!
I hope that you do not just make the Marathi Manoos an election-issue to win votes just like some other party did and then call us back-stabbers!
Remember there was a man in this state more than 300 years back who just did not promise dreams for the troubled and harassed people of this state but carried them forward to achieve those dreams! We all know what happened after the dormant potential of the ‘Sons of the Soil’ was ignited. All of us here know of the Maratha Empire which ruled most of India for more than 150 years!
We know this magician who made all of this possible! We have started Political parties based on his name, named airports and railway stations after him, erected countless statues on land and since land was not available we are now going to dump Rs.200Cr in the Arabian Sea to make one more statue there!
But the politicians have forgotten his work and what he stood for! We do not need statues of him anymore…Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj lives on in our hearts and minds…his inspiration runs like the warm blood through our bodies…We just need a leader to lead our great state to greater heights and to know that the benefit and welfare of the people is the supreme duty of any leader! Just like Shivaji Maharaj did!
Ithlya lokanchya mangataat khup takat aahe…Fakt to tumhala vaparta aala pahije….for good work..otherwise misuse of resources is child’s play for politicians!
I know much of this will not be possible for your party since 13 is a small number compared to 145 of Congress, but I hope you will make most of what you have! The reason I have told you this is because I believe that you will work and fare better than others, and as a result will have greater number of seats in hand next time!
Do not forget us! Do not just remember our votes!
The time to just give out speeches is over! It is time to give back to the people what has been said in those wonderfully inspiring speeches and to show the world that you are not just a Bol-‘Bacchan’! The people will be ever-ready to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you and work together! Fakt ek awaaz deun paha!
Your opponents are watching. Your future allies are watching. Your workers are watching. But most importantly, YOUR PEOPLE are watching your every move.
The time has come to prove your worth!
Are you up for the challenge, Mr.Thackeray?
This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License
19 comments
Well written my friend!! But in retrospect, Mr Raj is also a Sena by-product!
His integrity is yet to be seen. You can make out this..Ambanis split (or a stratagem) led to major boom in respective businesses! But does it sound well with the Thackeray’s?
Now Sena needs revival & Raj is a rudimentary species.. Now who is suffering ultimately?
Great Work Yaar. This is what all the mumbaikars wish to ask Mr. Raj Thackeray. When we have given him our precious vote is it going to be worth or the situation wold remain the same? Hope Mr. Raj would answer our questions by his non-violent work and not only by his words.
Well…Well.. Welll
Truly a rational mind…….
Gr88 pranjal your thoughts are precise and accurate abt todays state of Mumbai…
We desperately need a gr8 leader who can give answers to the problems faced by farmers,Naxal problems in affected areas,…and also recently…u might be knowing…. there was an attack on two senior citzens in lalbaug…who were on there way to jogging…..that also at morning 5.00 am….if a place like lalbaug is not free from thefts.then..what can other places expect…….????
Hope we get a gr88 leader like Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj…..as soon as possible……
who can get not only Maharashtra but also whole INDIA …to those glorious days..as in past…
chal then bye
it was gr8 reading ur blog…
@ All
You share my views! All of you! Thanks a lot for your invaluable comments!
Nice Blog dude , is really appreciable keep it up!!!!!
the point you pointed out in the blog about farmers of vidharbha was really good !!!!!1
Exactly why I’m happy that my education here gets done in 6 months, and not 6 years.
Well written dude.
Even I feel he can bring great to this land of “Shivaji” the Greatest King Ever. But hope he delivers the good in reality as in his speech. He needs to understanding that violence will only backfire him.
Too good!!!
You hv really captured the thoughts of a “Marathi Manoos” correctly…
Gr8…
@ Pradnya
THanks a lot for reading the blog…spread the word!
@ Anil, Jay
Thanks a lot for the views…Jay I agree with u on the violence part!
@ Jadoo a.k.a. Kaushik
Yea go back to delhi where the politicians are so honest 😛
All well said, but our duty doesn’t start and end with voting the right person. To bring about a change, we have to “be” the change. No leader can raise the status of Marathi manoos.
As of now, a typical marathi person starts speaking hindi as soon as he/she steps out of home. A close friend of mine went all the way to Pune to vote for MNS, yet he always pronounces Pune as “Poona” and Mumbai as “Bombay”. Huh! What a disgrace!
If we don’t respect ourselves, how can we expect others (e.g. outsiders) to respect us?
Thr is no point in getting excited by his entry man !
Our constitution has seen lot many such leaders and the parties cum n go..(almost) All came with the same revolutionary thoughts and all have shown the same big dreams but we have seen what happens after these parties and/or thr leaders settles down into politics….
And I don’t required to quote the examples for the above statement…coz u know all !
So, let us all cool down…and just wait and watch coz nuthings revolutionary gonna happen !
At the end Everyone and evry party cares for his own bread n butter only ! ‘Public gai bhad mein ‘
And one more thing, this is again a Marathi party …get and understand the word ‘Marathi’ here. So, in future thr party members surely gonna pull each others leg to cum forward and in the long run many of them surely gonna quit and / or ditch the party for thr own Self after drawing FAME and huge amount of money by using the Party… (After all u c this whole party n its leader has done the same, parties was born on this same trait…..so betraying is in thr blood only and its gonna cum out..and I tell u again ..its gona cum out.. when party will go thru its bad patch)
Unless, they learn ‘The Congressi’ culture ..whr self respect, ego, motive, Public interest cums 2nd and finger licking, ‘chamche giri’ , and adhering to party chiefs decisions and his /HER personnel interest cums 1st on priority list .. they CAN’t sustain in the long run ..and this is true with every party !
@ Kiran
Is being marathi all abt speaking marathi..I agree that no leader will be able to raise the status of marathi manus…we have to do it..but what these guys can do is provide funding for education, higher education, conduct various workshops which are really useful in developing the personality of Marathi youth…instead of just fighting wioth words and smashings taxis….We need leaders to change the attitude of the people…sure we can do it…but we need leaders to uplift the lower income groups in the marathi society…who readily follow what the leaders say…and that is why we need responsible leaders…
hi Pranjal,
AwSoMe article dude!! Truly well thought out intellectual product!!!
I agree with the sentiment that we need a change in Maharashtra and it cannot happen just because we have a leader. The leader can only guide the process, the rest is upto us. But Raj has to answer questions like those put up by Pranjal to be proved that leader who can make a difference. No person/party is perfect, but it is great leaders who make the most of all opportunities and situations to develop the peole. But the fact remains that even if there is a 1% chnace that Maharashtra has a leader, it has to be Raj right now or then there is no one else!!!
YES my friend u r writing truth of heart which is inside the MARATHI MANUS
GREat
@ Pankaj
Thanks!
@Sujay
I agree with you absolutely!
@ Pranjal…Hatz off!
Its bang on target!
U’ve chosen the right words to speak out, what Marathi manus want to say..at least i agree with all of ur thoughts..
There is a thing to observe in out entire article…” Marathi sabhyata..the politeness..”
Its very Polite n yet so aggressive..
thnks a lot dude..gr8 job!
nice work….sereously ur words were really inspiring…& while reading few of d sentences i felt like yess dis is wat exactly is going on in my mind….
i hope dis letter must hav also striked something in Mr.Thackerays mind….
but still nt able 2 c any sort of change…
hey thanks a lot!!
as you said changes are not being seen…it is as i had predicted and history is repeating itself…wat balasaheb thackeray did his nephew will do the same…make fools out of marathi people by playing with their emotions