My heart bleeds for you, Bombay

1. I was saddened by the posturing of various luminaries and personalities on the continuing war of words on the ‘Mumbai for Mumbaikars’ issue. To take stock of the present impasse, it would be worthwhile to have a quick, chronological rundown of the events to understand as to how a non-issue has become an issue:-
(a) During the IPL auction, Pakistani cricketers were shunned by all team owners and
today’s press makes us believe that, perhaps, Lalit Modi might have had a hand in the
backroom games associated with it.
(b) Shah Rukh Khan speaks out against the unfortunate incident prompting Bal Thackeray
to express his anger and he and his goons decide that the actor’s forthcoming film,
‘My name is Khan’ will not be released in the theatres of Bombay.
(c) Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi on a tour of Bihar says that Bombay is for all Indians
and reminds crowds that the very same people who’re rooting for ‘Mumbai for
Mumbaikars’ have forgotten the fact that the NSG commandos deployed in Bombay
during 26/11 were drawn from Bihar and UP and many had laid down their lives in
their fight against the terrorists.
(d) Udhav Thackeray asks Rahul Gandhi to stop his utterances, failing which he’d
not be allowed to enter Bombay. And he further terms Chidambaram as having
spoken like the Home Minister of Pakistan when he’d opined that the entire IPL
auction incident was unfortunate.
2. Bollywood seems to be badly divided on the issue which is the most unfortunate thing.
If they’d rallied together and told the people, from a common platform, that every
Indian has the right to come to Bombay and earn his livelihood, it would definitely
have thwarted the divisive tactics of the Thackeray goons and given them a befitting
reply. Unfortunately, that’s not to be and notwithstanding the fact that huge sums of money is at stake, everyone seems to be doing things for his own benefit.
3. My doubts that I’d like to ask the Bollywood actors are as follows:-
(a) Why can’t you be real life heroes for once?
(b) As men of public adulation, shouldn’t you stand up and expose the wrongdoings
of the politicians as part of your social responsibility?
(c) Or are you also on the Hindu- Muslim divide amongst your own circles?
(d) In times of trouble, why don’t you set aside personal differences and work unitedly towards a common goal.
4. I’ve this sad feeling that many amongst them think like Thackeray and his ilk. May God be with you in these trying times!