War is coming

Something dark is swelling up in the world. A fear, a dangerous fear, boiling over into anger and repulse.

The kind of fear our forefathers would have seen before. The kind that leads down a road we know too well. No need to go too far back in time. Genocides of the Partition,  Bangladeshi Hindus, Kashmiri Pandits are still fresh.

The signs are happening everywhere, all at once. People are rising to the clarion calls of protecting themselves in their homes. Brexit in the UK. Trump in the US. Far-right revival in Europe. Nationalism in Russia. Machoism in China and India. Sectarianism in the Middle East. People are reacting to fear, everywhere you look.

Where did this come from? Why are people everywhere turning to nationalism? Why does everyone suddenly want to draw a line between themselves and the rest of the world?
Because of fear. A single, gripping fear that’s sweeping the world, from England to Ohio, from Vienna to Moscow to Raqqa to Delhi to Rome.

The fear that the multi-culturalist globalist establishment isn't really working in our favour as we were promised it was. That it doesn’t have space for all of us, and ceded that space in pandering to the Jihadist. Fear that we and our way of living has been sold out to the Muslims in the guise of liberalism.

This fear is very real, and it’s driving people to fight for their place in a suddenly shrinking future. What we’re seeing them do, all over the world, is decide who they’re willing to fight alongside, and who they’re not.
What we’re watching is the world draw battle lines. And on one side is the maudering jehadi who has no religion, baying for your kafir blood.

Growing Up in a Hostile Environment: Screwed up Priorities of some Governments

Welfare Vs Hostile States.

Here's the situation : Immigration status is not easy in some countries. I plod through the process even after 6 months of having being in a country, with a reputable organisation. I have stayed away from my family because I did not want my kids academic year to be wrecked, so their immigration applications could be done parallely in good time. Education has always been my top priority...

Well, so last 2 month of her academic break should have been enough for her transit to the new country, or so I calculated. She has a place in school. I was pretty sure i had every thing covered when she passed her test and secured an admission. In another few weeks she should get her permit too. But there was a surprise on day-1 of new term. The school refused to let her take classes,  because her immigration status is not right.  And no, they cannot allow any grace time even if I can prove that the permit has been applied for. They used to in previous years, like my predecessor had suggested, but not anymore. The state has it's priorities. They raid the schools regularly to catch children of incorrect immigration statuses benefitting from a highly costly private education, paid for by legal immigrant parents. Government cannot allow such transgressions! The fines on schools are prohibitive.... Compliance before education!         

There is more in terms of benign rules.... One cannot bring dependents without 6 months of salary proof in the country. You got that right...!!!  you have to be a forced bachelor for at least 6 months by law. Also, Your demonstrable financial capability isn't enough for the authorities, like it does in other logical countries. Your local salary account statement is the only record of interest.... The statement should show 6 months of salary being credited in your local salary account. Why, you ask?

Because you are assumed to be a blue collared expat worker who constitute the majority of the population in the country. (Corrollary assumption: Your salary is assumed to be your only subsistence. You are assumed to have no other money anywhere in the world. You are assumed to be in complete mercy and control of your employer etc). All laws are devised on that assumption. And no, you cannot bring child without (one of) your spouse/(s) in tow. (to be Fair, that's also in other countries, I guess).  For me it creates a problem, because all your passports should be valid for next 6-months. And the 6-month transit has already brought one of ours' close to expiry! We are staring at a short term settlement which is as uncertain as my bank account balance nowdays! 😂 You cannot change jobs without employer NOC. You cannot leave the country without employer approval(exit permit). The list is long.... the hostility is deep.....

Anyway, The situation of my child got me thinking a bit. Here's the thing. What kind of country makes young children suffer through no fault of their own? Aren't many having their lives marred, including those who have only ever known this country as their home?

There's much to trouble about, but I shall focus on the conditions of my child's case study presented above and restrict myself to the right of children and the treatment to it worldwide.

Most respectable humane countries of the world are signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child where the rights of children are respected, regardless of their immigration status. However,  there remain the rogue countries of slave-owning cultures where immigration policies have a damaging impact on vulnerable groups including and especially children.

Let's have a look at the policy of education of some countries where children of doubtful immigration status is concerned.

In United States, All children are entitled to equal access to a public elementary and secondary education, regardless of their or their parents' actual or perceived national origin, citizenship, or immigration status. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/rights/guid/unaccompanied-children.html

In Canada, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act says Schools cannot refuse to admit children. It is against the law for a school to refuse to admit a child who is under 18 years of age only because the child or the child’s parent or guardian is in Canada without immigration status. http://www.cleo.on.ca/en/publications/rightschool

In the United Kingdom, When you deal with an application for a child who is not a UK national, You must not refuse a school place simply because of doubts about the child’s immigration status.https://www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children.

The European Union member states have all ratified The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 makes primary and secondary education available to all children in a country. Children first and foremost: the “best interests of the child”, says the convention.

According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the “best interests” principle applies to all children without discrimination, including foreign children who are illegally residents: “all the rights laid down by the Convention on the Rights of the Child must be applied to all the children present in the State, including […] those who are there illegally”!  Obviously, this works for students awaiting permanent immigration status. http://briguglio.asgi.it/immigrazione-e-asilo/2002/dicembre/oss-stc-comun-rimpatrio.html

However, There are these countries which have draconian laws as a way of buying more immigrants to contribute their manual labour but dissuading their families from coming. Most immigrants of the labour class are forced into the hands of rogue landlords and exploitative relationships. This is the kind of immigration that is desired and coveted. And high turnover ensures that limbs are young and comfort is low. Hence laws that encourage people to leave early are in order. The clever HR policy of wanting an immigrant's body's toil, not him as a human being. More unproductive mouths to feed (or dependants) are the last thing an expat is expected to bring to an economic workplace (the country).

How a country, treats children is a good measure of the values of a society. Aspirations of these countries are sky high - hosting marquee world events and tall towers and Formula races. Are these aspirational countries not failing to live up to the high standards that they rightly would set for others like the European Union, which has accepted millions of refugees from their troubled neighbourhood? (By the way, how many accepted by the n'hood itself?)

It is extremely concerning that rather than trying to improve the ways in which to support children, the governments instead make their countries a more hostile place for them to grow up in.

Disclaimer : The purpose of this article is not to criticise any country or law, neither do I have the competence to comment on legal matters, but to take a decision about whether the environment actually suits the self. Let me know your views.

Life in the deserts. Or the lack of it.

So here's the thing.

It doesn't matter who you are or what you earn, One can't bring one's family to the country before proving 6 months of gainful employment.

Majority of the so-called expats, which is about 85% of the population, can't even afford the threshold, so the whole place is swarming with frustrated, overworked, underpaid workmen with severely restricted lives. Men only. Because women and children await the expat remittances our home country is so proud of. Oldies aren't allowed in either. Families are discouraged. Health is screened before immigration. Only fit males who can labour well. It's a carefully constructed "perfect world". Hitler would die to learn, if he weren't already. A lot of people would learn too, had they survived the harsh conditions. But they constructed the edifice and facades.... the exteriors hide the grim reality of empty realty. The interiors hide the unforgiving deserts outside.

इस दार-ए-तरक्की के अंदाज निराले हैं।
रास्तो पर उजाले हैं, जहनों में अंधेरे हैं।।

To top it all, 6 month moratorium extends to everything about the family. Even school. Surprise raids will catch the erring schools imparting that overpriced education to illegal families who managed to sneak in with their husbands. Such is the rules.

Sun is clouded today.  Just another sandstorm. The dust clouding visibility. Keep working. Put your head down, bury it deep.

Anybody wants to join this fabulous wonderland! Time of my life!

Prasun Chaturvedi Interview

Interview published in TCS magazine.

Modi has changed gears - Take no prisoners.

http://myvoice.opindia.com/2016/03/modi-seems-to-have-changed-gears-politically/

The sudden spat of exposes of Ishrat Jahan witnesses, the ED finding all of PC son's illgotten wealth right during the Parliament session just shows Modi was accumulating these facts do4 a long time to strike at the right time.

Parliament wasn't allowed to function again as expected.  It is Rahul's brainwave to hold the government to ransom and not allow it to do any constructive legislative work , hence, in his mind discrediting the government. Especially since expectations are high from Modi and people are getting restive. Acched Din, Rahul thinks, can be beaten by Jumla sarkar.

Modi has given a teaser by accountability actions against PC... a direct warning to Sonia that noone is beyond reach. This damocles sword is the last attempt at getting some much-needed cooperation from government. Last attempt, because the by polls to Rajya Sabha due in July, given the current state mathematics, is expected to push Congress down to less than 60 seats. This should be enough for Government to conduct business with the help of friendly parties like AiADMK, BJD or even SP.

Given the threat hanging on PC, we can expect parliament to start cooperating a bit from now on. Financial bills will probably go through. The very top legislation business may slide through. Obviously the optics if confrontation will continue, but with the right prodding at the right time at the right places, government may succeed to buy temporary peace. I have suspicion that GST is just a tool to discredit the opposition. They quickly fell to Modi's trap in vociferously opposing false flags like Land Acquisition and GST, not half as necessary as it is made out to be. If the opposition now support GST, they'll have to eat humble pie. If not, modi will play victim, and further turn the screws.

Modi has also got JNU as his 2nd Godhra moment. Deep polarisation along nationalistic lines has been achieved. This is Vintage chess minds at play here (Amit Shah has long been an avid chess player). It is evident that govt is changing gears. "Take no prisoners" is the slogan but getting opposition to surrender may be on the agenda. The situation is Good for the economic agenda in my opinion. 

If the economy succeeds in creating the new rural demand as it's engine, as budget 2016 focuses, Sonia and her Suit-Boot opposition will be history. Sonia isn't going to take it lightly either. After a temporary ceasefire to buy reprieve from government action, More identity based politics may be in the offing to break the nationalistic narrarive. Will it create enough disturbance in country to trip the economy and hence Modi? Will Modi use his brahmastra of action agianst his arch rival? Will it be too late to needle the Queen? Interesting times ahead!

Pampore Terrorist Attack - Part III

- via Whatsapp

PAMPORE TERRORIST ATTACK - A Special Kind of Failure
Manvendra Singh


“`I don't think they play at all fairly,' Alice began,' ...and they don't seem to have any rules in particular; at least, if there are, nobody attends to them.“ Alice, in this case, is the one lost in Wonderland. And she has an important lesson when it comes to the recently concluded, and deeply tragic, operation in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir.
All the top-notch military précis, training manuals and doctrines don't prepare a conventional army leadership when it comes to employing Special Forces. Those lines from Alice encapsulate all that there is to know about how the Special Forces play -and how to play with them.

Special Forces are essentially anathema to a regular conventional professional army: a small number of highly trained and motivated lads, doing operations disproportionate to their numerical strength. An army is about mass; the Special Forces about less being more. The twain don't meet.

But an army has to tolerate them, because they exist. And they exist because there are individuals crazy enough to feel comfortable and confident with fewer around in taking on more than what they should. This, in essence, is the basic difference between a conventional army , and Special Forces.

India is not unique in this asymmetry . All professional (or even ceremonial) armies have faced this dilemma and `dispute'. Forward-thinkers will find a way out by accepting the reality that the `crazies' of any society can be an asset and should be used as such.

They leave egos aside, join the future, and give the Special Forces their space to operate. Some armies, especially the ones encumbered by their large bureaucratically driven system, deny the future and this logic. And then they pay a heavy price.

Pampore extracted that far too heavy price. In the public domain, it will remain an operation in which three terrorists were holed up in a building, killed three Special Forces troopers who tried to neutralise them. The public domain will look at, and remember, the operation as even-steven.

But it wasn't so, as the army was the loser. And it wasn't so simply because the operation was directed by those who didn't know how to employ Special Forces, and despite not knowing, insisted on telling the three Specials who died and their comrades who participated in the operation, how to do it.

Alice had figured it out perfectly . If you want them to play , let them play as they want to, fairly or otherwise. They have their rules, even if the rule book is indecipherable by most people. Never tell them this is the playground and play according to these rules. Because they can't. If they could, they'd be wearing different regimental insignia.

The insignia Special Forces wear on the right pocket compels them to think, feel, breathe and play differently .The commanders of war generally , and those in Pampore specifically , believe otherwise, and three precious lives were lost. Disproportionate to the three terrorists neutralised.

The terrorists holed up in the government building had their military psychology lessons correct. They released the civilians to continue with the charade of fighting for them. They pretended they had vulnerable hostages, and compelled the commanders to order an assault.

In a hostage situation, time is essential as delay means deaths. But in Pampore, an assault was ordered before it was clear whether there were hostages, where they were, and how many terrorists held them. Because Pampore is Srinagar and a multistorey government building meant the exigency was getting the hostages out fast.

Which is the first, fatal, mistake when it comes to military planning, special operations in particular. Never have a time-frame for concluding an operation, even if anti-national sloganeering is being aired by TV channels who don't think much of it.

Authority is about having the spine and the hide to take the barbs without losing the larger picture. In Pampore, alas, that was not the case. The TRP game came to play in a life-and-death situation, when there was no need.

Left to the Special Forces, both outstanding units, they'd have dealt with the operation differently . Room entry is part of their training. But multiple rooms and multistoreys are a different game altogether. Special Forces have the ability to adapt to a new challenge for which they haven't trained.

So, let them adapt, find the route, even if it is not a `fair' one. At least precious lives wouldn't have been lost, for the sake of time, which in the end doesn't tell. Only statistics do. And in that the army botched up. Badly .The writer is editor , Defence and Security Alert. Views are personal

Pampore terrorist attack - A larger Conspiracy Part-II

http://myvoice.opindia.com/2016/02/pampore-a-tale-of-valour-and-error/

40 hours, several casualties, and counter terrorism ops still continue. What has enabled terrorists managed to sneak across the border,  hold ration and ammunition and create a death trap for our forces for so loooooooonnnngggg!

And why don't our forces bring down the building? Why are we still suffering casualties and fightin? What's the fun in engaging 40 hours. Get the building down on the effers!! A few rocket propelled or laser guided grenades at the beams is all it needs!  What a collosal waste of ammunition, time, men and effort!

What kind of political compulsions cost us our men ? What kind of intelligence failure fails to realise the supply of a besieged enemy? What kind of strategy it is to elongate such skirmishes.... is it for show????

Are our operations deliberately being staged for hours when they can have a quicker resolution? Is politics guiding army ops? What's the cost to nation? Or is it just Intel failure about the supply lines of a besieged enemy!

Now is not the time, but these questions will probably be asked after the end of the encounter. Especially by our braveheart martyrs and their families.

Pampore - a much bigger conspiracy pre-empted?

Following news item appeared on a news outlet : "As the anti-terror operations continue in Papmore area of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, the Entrepreneurship Development Institute building, where terrorists are holed up, has been set on fire. Five soldiers - three Army paratroopers and two CRPF jawans - and a civilian have lost their lives".

The question which keeps bothering is : How come we lost three fine officers .. That too from the Para? It's difficult to understand this unacceptable high loss as 10 Para SF is one of the best we got! We will have to wait for the facts from the officials on this...

Meanwhile the other curiosity is this : Why do we rush in our special forces in everything? Shouldn't they be brought in sparingly? A logical explanation is perhaps because of recent failures .. like pathankot and uri. Or the other more likely reason could be that our security forces must have realised these are not regular terrorists... experts I spoke to believed that Pakistan has sent in their SSG as militants (the Pak eqivalant of SF).

That these may be SSG is borne by other facts too. In operations such as these, the command remains with the GOC .. outer cordon by CRPF .. inner cordon by army ..and then the SF teams enter. This house entry always buys casualties .. but the SF are very well trained for such ops. The number of casualties on SF is proof enough that these are  not usual LeT or JeM kind of militants who are easily neutralised in short time.. but SSG cadre of the standard used in the Parliament attack.

The question which begs answering now : assuming enemy is rational ;), Why would pakistan send in their ssg level force for such low impact operation? Or is it that our forces have prempted something bigger that was on the cards?

Coming as it does closely on the heals of manufactured belligerance among the Red corridors and other internal disturbances,  it's a very chilling reality we seem to be looking at!

There was most certainly something much bigger planned through these incursions, and out security forces seemed to have got wind and neutralised the plan. Let's wait and watch as this story unfolds.  Our tributes to our brave martyrs from the Army and Paramilitary forces! JAI Hind.

Indian Spring to Red Summer.

JNU , the liberated zone in the heart of the capital city, was to be the spark for an "Indian Spring".

Faultlines were brushed up and put to low simmer. Christians under attack, Muslims being lynched over lunch, Dalits being forced to suicides, agrarian distress, workers exploitation, forcible land acquisition, and even violent caste-based demands for backwardness among the most powerful sections across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.

Everything was set. Media was setting it up perfectly for opposition to deliver a crushing Blow to Modi. Unfortunately for them, their bets were on tired middle-aged options : a rent-a-cause activist or drama-a-day anarchist. The two between themselves can smash the China to pieces. I meam the dishes, not the People's Republic (may peace be upon the Chairman Mao)!  And so the plan failed. And how!

The revolutionaries are in a spin. Their revolution has led them running round in revolutionary circles. Many have accepted government hospitality (with some Bassi encouragement) and started squeaking and singing melodiously. Others have bravely hibernated. The entire edifice is under attack. Instinctively, the comrades are all trying to hold against the mighty push, against this demolishing cascade of popualar public opinion, which they have so carefully insulated against in their cultivated make believe world.

The pressure is too much. Magically, Things have started falling in place on their own.  The street thug admitted to gaddari. Bad-NAAM,  NAMAK-harami and NISHAN-E-PAKISTAN, the values a news channel lived upto, blackened themselves. The last time they lit a candle in their dark studios was in support of the rape-republic label by Beeb.

The government, instead of capitulation like they were expected to in the fine tradition of their predecessors, insisted on the writ of the state on the liberated zone. The spring has quickly turned to summer. Heat is on the springers. The revolution needs their Tiannamen square to weather this storm. Anything. Like a crowd jostling within patiala house court. That'll be quite enough to discredit all that the Nation which wants to know.

In the meantime, friends of Lal Salaam are calling to keep the faith. Atheist far left rationalists, are expected to embrace their Arab beckon and join the call for prayers. That's as close to anything Arab as the spring could ever get before the fall.

करो यवनिका पात ,कि अब तो पलकें भारी हो आयी हैं!

करो यवनिका पात ,कि  अब तो पलकें भारी हो आयी हैं,
और अघिक नाटक कर पाना मेरे वश की बात नहीं है।

हारी थकी देह  है मेरी अब तो सो जाने का मन है ,
जहां खो गये सपने मेरे खुद भी खो जाने का मन है।

सूत्रधार मेरी मजबूरी यदि हो सके क्षमा कर देना
अब झूठी मुस्कान दिखाना मेरे वश की बात नहीं है।

मुझको भी अफसोस रहेगा खेल अधूरा छूट रहा है
पर सामर्थ्य जवाब दे रही  अब चुप हो जाने का मन है।

वे अरमान जिन्हें अपने ही हाथों सूली पर लटकाया,
पूछ रहे हैं आखिर पगली तूने जीवन में क्या पाया।

किसको क्या बतलाऊ मुझ को कोई क्या समझा पायेगा
मैंने अपने इस जीवन में संजो क्या ,क्या बिखराया।

कोई शून्य आ रहा घिरता मुझको बांहों में भरने को
इससे अधिक बता पाना अब मेर वश की बात नहीं है।।

Quote by Mrs. Abha Misra (Mausi) in remembrance of Naniji on her punya tithi.

A Grateful Nation.

Smriti irani intervention on the TimesNow debate today, when she saw an Indian General upset.... is the reason why we believe this is the first govt in independent India which is truly ours. She spoke for us. She spoke what we wanted to speak. It is this govt that we all fought for. This was the freedom we had always sought. This is the azadi we cherish. This shall be the patriotism we are proud about. Dare you call us scoundrels. VANDE matram.

Overseas Friends Of BJP - Kenya

The overseas friends of BJP convened on 14th Feb 2016 at 11:00 AM at HCK, Nairobi. The organization has been formalised to bring together the pro-BJP and nationalist Indian voices together in East Africa.

1. We started with prayers and remmebrance of Mother India.

2. Introductions were given. All participants addressed the forum. This included Shri Shetty ji of HSS, Shri Vimal Chadhdha ji, Shri Venugopal ji, Shri Prasun Chaturvedi ji, and others.

3. We resolved to put up a team in Nairobi. Shri Venugopal ji's name was unanimously accepted by the forum as Kenya head.

4. The charter of the organization is as follows:
1. Network: Be in touch with the Indian diaspora.
2. Lobbying: Propagating BJP thoughts and ideology.
3. Provide a forum: representing problems in the country of adoption.

5. In line with our networking objective, We resolved to bridge links with all cultural and social organizations of Indian origin in Kenya.

6. There were various suggestions which were minuted officially, and will be included in our agenda in later meetings.

7. We closed the meeting with a Vote of Thanks from Vimal ji, shanti path and observing silence for our martyrs of the Indian Armed forces.

The appropriation of Bombay by Marathis.

My friend Mayur has recently written a well - articulated piece here http://www.opindia.com/2016/02/mumbai-or-bombay-the-independents-stunt/ taking on The Independent's Amol Rajan's exhortations to reject Mumbai's current name. I love the writing but can't say I agree with all of it. I cannot match the superb quality of writing, but I do have some points which I want to jot down here in reply.

To begin with, Unlike western philosophy where every individual is taught the insignificance of his existence, the Hindu philosophy claims the divinity of every being. Hinduism has never heaped guilt of "original sins" or calls for "rehmat" which is the default status of any human life in other religions. On the other hand, in Hinduism, every individual is a brahmansh,  a part of the larger cosmos. The cosmos is a manifestation of all individuals and would not be the same without the characterstics of that individual. What one person does as per his dharma determines his existence. Individual crusades, therefore, are as important as any "people's movement". To deride someone's individual crusade as insignificant is against the Hindu philosophy. We have respected and appreciated all views throughout our rich history, and I don't feel the need to shout down a quirky idea like Amol's.

I agree that Hindu nationalism was hardly the motivation of renaming Bombay. Subjecting peace loving inhabitants of Bombay to a growing degree of xenophobia, racial discrimination, prejudice and violence was hardly a result of Hindu nationalism too. On the contrary, Marathi belligerence usually borders around seperationism of the kind routinely witnessed in Kashmir by its goons of stone-pelters and resulting in the same kind of persecution as faced by native Kashmiri Pandits by the locals. Kashmir minus Gun may best describe the approach.

[Edit: My friends objected to the comparison with Kashmir. My limited point is unbridled regionalism can quickly degenerate into secessionistic tones. Art 370, exclusiveness, more autonomy, all of this... a "foreigner" is just a notional line from "Outsider". Beats Nationalism. Shouldn't be promoted. Division of India on linguistic lines was as bad an idea as a Communal Award to Sindh, both incidentally supported by Nehru and his Congress.].

The "Marathi" identity of the city, which is highly debatable in actual demographics, is a recent phenomenon by itself. The history of Bombay is hardly a Marathi one.

The city was a small fishermen settlement when Surat was a bustling port.

Bombay was founded by the Portuguese, but was converted into a major industrial hub after it passed into the hands of the British in 1661. There was a concerted effort to import artisans and traders to settle in the new town. Mercantile castes of Gujarat (Surat) also took advantage.

A large part of the Parsi migrants to Bombay in these years was constituted of weavers and other artisans. In 1673, the British handed over a piece of land in Malabar Hill to the Parsi community for the establishment of their first Dakhma, Tower of Silence.

In 1780, 9.2% of the population of Bombay were Parsis. A first wave of migration followed a famine in Gujarat in 1790. By 1812 the number of Parsis in Bombay had quadrupled. In 1837, a second large wave of migrations to Bombay followed a huge fire in Surat. Today, more than 70% of all Parsis live in Bombay.

The cotton boom was largely fuelled by Parsi and Gujarati entrepreneurs. The oldest newspaper in Bombay, "Bombay Samachar", was run by Parsis. Congress stalwarts like Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta and Dinshaw Wacha were Parsis. One of India's biggest industrial houses was founded by a Parsi, Jamsetji Tata. Even the physical shape of Bombay was determined by donations to build causeways, roads and buildings by members of the Jeejeebhoy and Readymoney families.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar wrote about this in his 1948 essay, Maharashtra As a Linguistic Province. Ambedkar noted of the Indian Merchants Chamber meeting at Bombay :  “with the exception of one Indian-Christian it was only attended by Gujarati-speaking merchants and industrialists”.

The Gujaratis from Surat built the Land in South Bombay for housing and  warehouses. These areas are in the Malabar Hill, Colaba and Nepean Sea Road. It was the Gujarati's influence which made sure no Englishman, Portuguese, or other Christian nor Muhammadan was permitted to live within their compound or offer to kill any living creature there. The Gujaratis represented their demands to British that in case of war or any other danger which may succeed, the British shall have a warehouse in the castle (today’s Fort area) to secure their goods, treasure, and family. This understanding of real-politik and their economic influence gave the city it's Hindu character.

Gujaratis and Parsis still dominate south Bombay, due to their merit and entrepreneurship. Much later, the locals would start their narrow-minded campaign of "thokashahi" (as opppsed to the peaceful democratic outlook of Gujaratis and Parsis) to displace local populations in their own country and take control of the fruits of someone else's labour. Thankfully,  such forces are on a political decline,  forced to play second fiddle to the BJP, which ensures a more inclusive Hindu nationalist outlook.

The enterprising nature of Gujaratis and Marwaris and Parsis highlight their indispensable role in the city’s economic engine. The city’s grain, textile, paper and metal trade, diamond merchants,  bullion trade as also the stockbroking has strong links to the these communities. The boom in trade and enterprise attracted thousands of Indians from across the country to participate in the running if this mammoth economic enterprise called "The city of dreams". 

A large influx of Tamil migrants to Bombay came in the 1920s. Bombay's first Tamil school which was also Dharavi's first school was constructed in 1924. The Tamils built their homes and society in and around Dharavi, Chembur and Matunga. The derisively called Hindi-speaking "Bhaiyas" from North India came in droves and set their enterprise and provided labour. The Bollywood film industry  (which was largely Hindi/Urdu speaking once the curtains set on Dadasahab Phalke's silent movies era) was one of such enterprises popularised with all of India, and indeed the world.

No mention of Bombay is complete without the contributions of the tradesmen of Sindh, Gujarati Baroda and Dangs, as well as the Deccan Kolhapur, Sindh deserves a special mention.

Sindh had been under Bombay's presidency. Hindu Sindhi traders, being traditionally business communities, nurtured Bombay, the capital. They also preferred close association and contributed to the development of Bombay, often at the cost of Karachi, since it suited the political climate of the time, and afforded political security to Sindh's mainly Hindu (baniya) business families.

Jinnah argued the case of separation of Sindh in his famous 14 points about the need to have Sindh "liberated" from Bombay. After the Larkana communal riots in 1927, the rift in the Hindu and Muslim interests with regard to the status of Sindh became wider. Meanwhile, whereas the Congress supported the idea of separation of Sindh, the Simon Commissions proposals declared that the time was not yet ripe.

In 1931 the Government of India constituted a Sindh Conference to propose viable means of partitioning of Sindh, as it would initially carry a debt to the central government which had to be realized by additional taxation.
Finally Sindh was granted provincial autonomy under the GOI act of 1935. His Highness Agha Khan had this to say about the communal award :
“The separation of Sindh was the foundation stone of Pakistan". The struggle to keep Bombay one was the effort of all Hindu Nationalists, especially the Gujarati and Sindhi businessmen, and would have prevented partition of India, had their efforts succeeded.

The reason Bombay is singled out as compared to Chennai or Kolkatta is because of it's unique history. To say that Bombay is a city of Marathi is as ludicrous as saying India's independence was won by Sonia's congress Party.  Brave business communities who went around the world in pursuit of ambition, also lent their enterprise to the setting and running of modern Bombay. To claim Bombay as a preserve of a linguistic minority, or to somehow find Marathi roots to the city, is the biggest disservice to the history of cosmopolitan multi-cultural Bombay. Only those who had no role in the making of this history feel victorious by their efforts to run it down as "Mumbai", a nomenclature preferred by the militant linguistic minority of the city imposed on its silent majority.