Metropolis, stalled

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is a deeply disappointed man today. His ambitious attempt 8212; the first serious one since In...

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is a deeply disappointed man today. His ambitious attempt 8212; the first serious one since Independence 8212; to transform India8217;s richest but shabbiest city into a modern metropolis could now grind to a depressing halt. Deshmukh has been cut short by the worst of his party8217;s old world, vote bank politics. He has been told to honour the Congress manifesto, which rashly promised to protect slums built until 2000, instead of the 1995 cut-off being used to rid the city of its massive encroachments. So a city dreaming of becoming Shanghai will now watch helplessly as a host of road, rail and other infrastructure projects continue to get blocked by illegal shanties even as it finds itself sliding back into the past.

Congress Party General Secretary Margaret Alva set the ball rolling at a meeting with Mumbai8217;s business community, when she openly chided Deshmukh8217;s government for its demolition drives: get your priorities right, she warned. Her remarks were enough to encourage a bunch of hitherto silent MPs and MLAs from Mumbai to make a dash for Delhi and drag a reluctant Deshmukh with them to face Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Unlike the residents of Mumbai, Alva has no real stake in Mumbai. How can she then be allowed to undermine one of the boldest interventions ever taken by any chief minister? How can she be allowed to play with the future of the city? In many ways, this controversy is in complete character with the Congress brand of politics that wishes to be all things to all people. One day it pretends to be a modern, reform-minded party; the next day it is back mouthing the rhetoric of yesteryear. A model of change and urgent urban renewal that had been clearly articulated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is brushed aside 8212; not through reasoned debate and discussion but in the babble of vote bank rhetoric.

Uncertainty now shrouds Mumbai8217;s future. Deshmukh8217;s makeover attempt, however controversial and poorly planned, was a desperate move to lift a vast shanty town 8212; 60 per cent of Mumbai8217;s population lives in slums 8212; into a city that bore at least a semblance to a modern metropolis. Mumbai desperately needs 8212; and certainly deserves 8212; to achieve international standards. As for the Congress, it emerges as the ultimate ditherer 8212; a quality that will not exactly endear it to Mumbai8217;s citizens. It has also come across as a badly divided house, with its intra-party machinations being played out in the clear light of day. All in all, a shameful state of affairs.