An open letter to Raj Thackeray

Dear Raj,
I feel greatly honoured to be living in 'your' city. I was born here and bought up here. I lived here and made friends with many who were born in this city. Little did i know, this was not my city. Little did I know, we were intruders. When you put your crusade against migrants, I was unsure of your identity. A carnage later and shutting down of industries in the Industrial belt of Nashik, you became a known political figure. Firstly, i would like to know if you are a descendant of the Thackeray family, of William Makepeace Thackeray! Well, a true maharashtrian name that sounds similar to your surname is that of Thakre. Thackeray is an English name, so I am unable to understand if you are British or Maharashtrian. I believe charity begins at home, and it would be nice if you could find, and then correct your roots before you talk about others.

I totally agree to you that people have to get jobs, sons of the soil have great strength within them to do the job. But who is stopping them from getting a job. I have lived in this city and have known that anyone willing to work hard does not ever go to sleep, hungry in this city. Everyone has a job. People who do not want a job, do not work. I have worked with many sons of the soil. They are great hospitable people. They do not need a Raj Thackeray to get them a job. They get it on their own merit. They get it because of their own hard work and determination. They are self made people, not made by someone else. You point fingers at Ambanis and Bachchans, and ask what they have done for this city. Well, what have you done? What has your party done? If anyone were to count of what you have done to the city, it would amount to losses of many crores, in terms of losses due to violent and insensitive carnage and huge production losses.

Your followers have shown great sensitivity and emotion to support your cause. They can kill, burn, destroy if their emotions are played with. We need people who build the country. What will we do with people who can destroy anything on their path? Threatening is easy, taking the responsibility on oneself is not easy. You threaten the police to arrest you, because you know the city's judiciary and security would like peace and any arrest warrant can mean destruction and production losses. It is indeed a very smart way of showing power, but is it? This is not power but a display of ego. A true leader is a person who shows the way to the people, not threaten them.

You are rich and have a flourishing real estate business. I am sure you have enough to start businesses that will prosper. At least start one industry and employ 'your' people and ensure that it is certified by ISO for best practices and brings in great financial results. You don't need any political clout to do that. Many of the millionaires including Kirloskar have done that. Just one Industry. Try it. I am very sure you can show the world that you are a man of your word. And when you do, we will then know that a 'son of the soil' is born, and we, the people all over the country would point at you and say - There stands the true son of the soil, a man who stood by his word and proved that it just needs one man to change the world!

Yours truly,
A stone in the soil