WHAT ARE the implications of Raj Thackeray’s demands? Now that Raj Thackeray has been arrested, the country is waiting with bated breath as to what havoc his “enraged” supporters will wreak on Mumbai. I must admit I am no good in these situations. My heart flutters and palpitation results. I bite my nails down to the cuticle and I breathe in shallow gasps. I am sure there are others who react the same way. Not for us the fiery words and ‘morchas’ (processions). We prefer Gandhiji’s methods, as they are as good for our health as they are for the nation’s health and image.

 

Keeping this in mind, I, along with some of my friends, have decided that the following be done to get Raj to see sense (if such an eventuality is possible at all):

 

The North Indians are beginning to leave Mumbai anyway. So why not just follow through en masse with a ‘Mumbai Chodo’ movement? For those not familiar with the national language, it means a ‘Quit Mumbai’ movement. Let us do it voluntarily. Sounds good? It does, at least to my coterie here but our caveat (and we have only one) is that Raj does not get to choose who leaves (poor migrant workers) and who stays (Mukesh Ambani). Raj and his estranged uncle and cousin desire to restore Marathi pride and what could be more damaging to that pride than these rich non-Marathi tycoons flaunting their success and wealth? So here it goes - the following list furnishes in more or less the right order, the names of those non-Marathis who should leave: