‘Bade bhaiyya was a good man’

The constituency is a microcosm of Mumbai: sprawling shanty towns to middle-class localities to the rich and famous.

But whether it be the congested Muslim ghetto of Behrampada in Bandra (East) or the upper middle class Gujarati-dominated Vile Parle (West), people are are repeating a cliche‚ with heartfelt sincerity: He was a good man.

Over his two-decade stint, the people in Behrampada began looking at him as a social worker who saved their homes from being demolished, repaired potholed roads and brought water to their taps.

What people remember most is Dutt’s work in the ghetto after the 1993 riots.

‘‘He made sure we were safe,’’ said Ramchandra Prasad, a 48-year-old fruit vendor from Kherwadi road. ‘‘He went from lane to lane requesting people to stop fighting’’.

Ville Parle had taken the news quietly.

For 18 years, from his grocery store a few blocks away from Gandhi chowk off the station road, Rajesh Purohit (38) has observed Dutt. Dutt was not just about star power, he said, ‘‘he was an educated man with a clean background.’’

And in Kamathipura’s 14th lane, Mumbai’s red-light district, groups of women huddled in front of a TV to catch the last glimpse of their bade bhaiyya: Sunil Dutt was their rakhi brother for five years. Come rain or shine, Dutt always made it to Grant road on Raksha Bandhan every year.

Dutt was known for spending his entire MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds for the welfare of his constituency. In the last financial year too, he has spent his allocated Rs 2 crore, said officials at the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.