Today, if you ask me to name one Indian whom I admire most, the name is Sachin Tendulkar. Not just for cricket for which the whole world loves him. But, for the spine the Master Blaster has shown at a media interaction to say: “I am extremely proud of being a Maharashtrian, but Mumbai is a part of India and I play for India.”

I hope Raj Thackeray, Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena and its splinter groups are listening.
These are people who are bent upon compromising the future of the Marathi Manoos for short term gains. They are the people who are trying to drive a wedge between Maharashtrians and the rest of the Indians for petty gains.

India is already divided on caste lines and religious lines. We do not need to widen this divide further on linguistic lines. One wonders if the followers of the Thackerays realize what they are doing.

Okay, you can show your dadagiri in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra and take it out on Indians who come from other parts of the country. Do they realize that the day the rest of India decides to react, the Marathi Manoos would be confined to the four walls of Maharashtra? Is that what they want? Today, when people are trying to transcend borders and planets and become “Citizens of the World” and “Citizens of the Universe” some people with myopic vision are trying to shrink even the existing boundaries for personal gains.

The Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are trying to create citizens of Maharasthra out of citizens of India. But, that is what happens when you name a state as “Maharashtra” (great country) and try to squeeze it into a “Rashtra” (country i.e., Bharat Rashtra).

The Thackerays and supporters of Shiv Sena and MNS should be asked to surrender their Indian passports forthwith and travel on Maharashtrian passports if there is anything of the sort. That would bring them face to face with ground realities.

Today, Sachin Tendulkar is a national hero. He is the best loved Indian cricketer. He has a solid following of over a billion compatriots. Think of what the Thackerays can do to him. Sachin might be relegated to the position of a hero of a component state and his fan following may shrink manifold. Is this what we want?

Sachin Tendulkar is a front foot cricketer. He is not one to go on to his back foot like Amitabh Bacchan, Karan Johar, Nana Patekar and a whole lot of others. The Thackerays dare not take him to task because they know that it would tantamount to stirring a hornet’s nest. The whole nation will rally around Sachin Tendulkar.

By saying what he has said, Sachin Tendulkar has hit a sixer off the field. There is no way the Tackerays can catch this. It has cleared the Maharashtra boundary. Down with Thackerays, long live Maharashtra as a part of India…LONG LIVE INDIA.