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Journalism of Courage
It was a nerve-racking selection process that culminated in Vilasrao Deshmukh becoming chief minister of Maharashtra again. Intrigue and factional jockeying carried well into the evening hours of the day his name was announced as leader of the Congress-NCP government. But only a few months into his second innings, Deshmukh seems ready to play some decisive strokes. The unprecedented scale of the demolition drive initiated under his government8217;s watch in Mumbai is certainly one. Deshmukh cannot but be aware of the dangers he courts. These will emanate, indeed they already have, not just from his opponents. They will come, also, and especially from those within his own party whose political ambitions are in danger of being bulldozed alongwith the illegal slum sprawl. Deshmukh must face not just the legitimate claims of rehabilitation by those who have been rendered homeless by law, but also the motivated clamour made in bad faith by those who have profited from the dark areas in one of India8217;s wealthiest cities. Deshmukh must stay the course.
Mumbai has always been a magnet for those seeking employment and the spread of places like Dharavi is certainly testimony to the failure of the state in the early decades after Independence to acknowledge this reality and plan for it. Today, an estimated 62 per cent of Mumbai lives in its slums. These are insanitary urban wastelands where people huddle in ill-lit shabby structures lacking in all grace and amenity. They are the most vulnerable, most ill-serviced sections of the urban population. They exist at the mercy of slumlords who exploit them in collusion with the corrupt staff of the BMC, collector8217;s office and police department. This cannot be the way of life anyone must fight to preserve.
