Maharashtra governor's Bhagat Singh Koshiyari's remarks on Rajasthanis and Gujaratis contribution to Mumbai's financial might to the exclusion of Marathi manoos are in rank bad taste and not in keeping with the stature and ethos of the high office he occupies. He had earlier been castigated for making statements bordering on the vulgar about Savitribai Phule , a Maharashtrian reformist, educationist , poet and a torch bearer of women's rights in pre-independence India. How a city evolves is a matter of complex history understood by very few. Mumbai emerged as an important trading post during British rule as part of Bombay Presidency which also included the Bengal and Madras Presidencies but both Kolkata and Chennai have evolved differently vis a vis Mumbai. Maharashtra was created after protests by the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement for a Marathi speaking state in 1955, in fact 105 people attained martyrdom for the cause. Pitting Maharashtrians against other communities must be totally avoided, there is enough ugly politics already, why add to the communal cauldron.
