Ringing in the old

Yet again,Mumbai does not find Congresss promise of changing the city credible

Yet again,Mumbai does not find Congresss promise of changing the city credible

The campaign for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had been imbued with great resonance by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. It was,he said,a face-off between the UPA and the NDA. In the event,Chavans Congress party slid from its previous strength in Mumbai municipal body,the richest in the country. The Shiv Sena-BJP combine again put itself within striking distance of extending its two-decade-long hold on the BMC,but politically it is a bruised combine too. The Shiv Sena,the senior partner in Mumbai,has been shown the limits of its over-reliance of rabble-rousing. Its estranged son,Raj Thackeray,has outflanked the Sena in feeding off sharpened ethnic anxieties to carve out a bigger chunk for his MNS. Whether he is eventually accommodated in the Senas scheme or not,his consolidation of the angry urban vote should be a pointer to parties that Indias financial capital needs political leadership in its urban upgrade.

The truth is that the Congress has seen Mumbai as a reservoir of funding,while its politics has bypassed the issues of urban governance. Finding it difficult to get a grip on the BMC,it created the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority,which is controlled by the state government,which has been with the Congress-NCP alliance for more than a decade. But the Congress is not just lazy in rising to the challenge of upgrading the infrastructure of Mumbai and other cities,it appears to be scared of even privileging the urban challenge,as if that would somehow cast it as being pro-rich. Upon becoming chief minister,Chavan made a slew of announcements but every major project that could have improved the citys quality of life is either stuck or running way behind schedule: from the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link to Metro rail corridor; the monorail corridor to the Dharavi redevelopment project and the Western Freeway sealink.

The Sena,with an acquiescent BJP in alliance,too sees the Mumbai municipal body as a way of retaining an extortionist grip. It has failed to articulate,let alone realise,a vision for the citys governance and has instead held on to its strongholds as an overlord promising protection. The rhetoric that fuels its politics lingers on scarcity,of jobs and resources being under the beady eyes of outsiders. If Mumbai is still seen by its inhabitants and by those who continue to migrate as a city of opportunity,it is in spite of its rulers in local and state government.