A suggestion by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to have a CEO to ensure the proper development of Mumbai has predictably boomeranged with a string of protests from political leaders. The suggestion threatens to erode the autonomy of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, the richest local self-governing body in the country.In fact, the issue of separating Mumbai from Maharashtra has been the cause of controversies from the very beginning, since the place of Mumbai in the Maharashtra polity is an emotional one. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. However its sentimental attachment to the state dates back to the early sixties when the old Bombay State was a bilingual state.The inclusion of Mumbai in Maharashtra was part of the struggle for separate statehood which went on for over 8 years. When former prime minister, late Morarji Desai, in his capacity as the CM of old Bombay State, opposed the inclusion of Mumbai in Maharashtra, the move was fought tooth and nail. Hutatma Chowk, a martyr’s memorial located in South Mumbai, bears testimony to the struggle for statehood for Maharashtra which claimed 105 lives.The issue of Mumbai is so volatile that in 1985 when it was raised in the state legislative council, former Maharashtra chief minister, late Vasantdada Patil, responded vociferously saying that any such move would be crushed by the state. By one statement Vasantdada sent two messages — a message to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and another to the former president of the Mumbai Pradesh Congress Committee Murli Deora, from whom the suggestion for a separate status for Mumbai had come for the first time.The matter did not end with Vasantdada’s statement, but had a cascading effect. A cartoon was carried by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray in Marmik a Shiv Sena mouthpiece. The message accompanying the cartoon urged Mumbaiites to oppose any attempt to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra. The cartoon had such an emotional impact that for the first time in the civic elections, the Shiv Sena thundered to power.Now, the present chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, too has dismissed the idea of appointing a CEO to ensure the development of Mumbai. In fact, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has already been functioning as a nodal agency. Yet there has been no proper co-ordination between MMRDA and other agencies including BMC, MTNL, Railways. If another CEO is appointed, the confusion it would create is unimaginable.In any case, no political party in Maharashtra is comfortable about bifurcating the state as is evident from the opposition to the idea of separate statehood for Vidarbha. Chidambaram might have suggested the appointment of CEO for Mumbai but such suggestions will always gather Continued Emotional Opposition (CEO) from political parties in Maharashtra.
