So Raj Thackeray is on his opportunistic high horse again. He has now ‘decreed’ that private companies in Mumbai must reserve 80% of all jobs for the Marathi manoos.

This is political jingoism of the most reprehensible kind. As is usual with Indian politicians, Raj Thackeray has issued this flamboyant statement for purely opportunistic reasons; without any serious thought and scant regard to the consequences. As usual, Thackeray and his MNS have underlined their diktat with veiled threats of brute force. In their statement, the MNS has stated that private firms who do not comply with their directive will not be allowed to function and will face agitation. The people of Mumbai are well aware of what the Shiv Sena and the MNS mean by "agitation".

Forget about the constitutional validity of this directive; what about the real cost in human terms if it was to be enforced? Say a private company currently has 50% Marathi employees. Is it supposed to throw out the 30% non-Maharashtrians, many of whom may have served their employees faithfully for several years? Has the MNS given any thought to the very real suffering in human terms that would incur? And what about their children's education? Entire future careers could be jeopardized because of this one senseless act. With their woeful ignorance of basic economies, some in the MNS will probably argue that the private companies can create additional jobs for Marathis. If only it was that simple. Moreover, except in a few cases, most offices already employ a considerable number of Marathis. If the MNS carries out its threat of not allowing the non-compliant companies to function, the sons of the soil will suffer just as much as the perceived 'enemies'.

Even assuming Raj Thackeray has thought about all this, it is unlikely that he will lose much sleep over it. Our politicians are notoriously self serving. Thackeray does not see the irony in placing his children in elite English-medium schools, mostly run by Christians, while at the same time, professing to be a champion of the Marathi manoos. He is too busy consolidating his power.