Students paint posters urging voters to vote for the Lok Sabha election 2024. File picture used for representation.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The State of Bombay was bifurcated in 1960 into the Marathi-speaking Maharashtra and the Gujarati-speaking Gujarat.
Balasaheb Thackeray’s satirical cartoons on anti-migrant sentiments gained steam with the local population which led to the formation of the Shiv Sena in 1966. Since then, the “Marathi first” identity has gained traction, including the “Marathi Manus” sentiment. This identity has strong following in Mumbai, Pune, and the Konkan coastal areas.
Unemployed youth were drawn to this demand for employment for local people at the expense of migrants from South India and Uttar Pradesh.
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Pro-Hindutva party
The 1970s saw the transformation of the Shiv Sena to a pro-Hindutva party. The core base continued to be the supporters of the Marathi-first identity with the newer base coming from the pro-Hindutva voters. The Shiv Sena’s pro-Hindutva position led to a long association with the Bharatiya Janata Party, resulting in it being one of the founding members of the National Democratic Alliance in 1998.
After the Shiv Sena split into the Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, and the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Marathi base continues to be strongly with the faction led by Mr. Thackeray and the pro-Hindutva base being equally distributed between the two factions.
The BJP, by itself, has been a favoured choice for the pro-Hindutva base as can be evidenced from the electoral trends till 2019.
Mood check
In order to ascertain the mood of the respondents, they were asked the following question: Some people say that they are Maharashtrians first and Indian later, while some others say that they are Indian in the first place. What do you think? Are you a Maharashtrian first or an Indian first?
From the responses, we find that the national identity has overshadowed the regional identity significantly.
Close to six in 10 (58%) respondents believe that they are Indian first, Maharashtrian later as compared with two in 10 (22%) who believe that they are Maharashtrian first, Indian later. A little over one-sixth (15%) of the respondents favoured “equally both” identities.
When probed further, it was found that those who prioritise their regional identity are more likely to believe that the government has not worked to promote the Marathi culture.
A higher percentage of those who supported the “India first” identity (53%) felt that the government has promoted Marathi culture compared with those who supported the “Maharashtrian first” identity (47%).
Published – October 21, 2024 03:50 am IST