Opinion Another election,same story in Mumbai

Maharashtra’s chief minister for a year,Prithviraj Chavan,tried to convert the contest for the richest municipal body in the country (with an annual budget that is bigger than that of a dozen states) into a battle between the UPA and the NDA. He failed miserably. The Congress’s strength has,in fact,declined significantly — from 72 in 2007 to 51 in the 224-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The party’s failure can be attributed to its leadership than to the chief minister,who is himself a rookie in the state’s politics.

For the Congress,Mumbai has been nothing but a money-making machine. Though it has always been interested in Mumbai because of its ability to generate resources,it has ploughed back very little into the city. The Congress alienated itself from the city right from 1960 when Maharashtra was created with Bombay as the capital. The Congress’s electoral misery continues even after half a century.

The party’s dual strategy — of having a Maharashtrian as CM while keeping a north Indian as party chief — doesn’t seem to be working. Accompanying Chief Minister Chavan this time in the Congress’s Mumbai project were leaders like Kripashankar Singh and Rajhans Singh who failed to instill confidence in the voters. The party is again paying the price for ignoring local aspirations. Its failure is widespread,as it has lost in all the cities that went to the polls in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile,the Shiv Sena,which claims to espouse the son-of-the-soil theory,sees the wind turning. For the first time since its inception in 1968,the Sena faces a major threat at the hands of its own offshoot,the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Led by the firebrand Raj Thackeray,the MNS has taken up the Marathi cudgels from where the Sena dropped them.

In the past,successive Congress chief ministers had used the Thackeray clan to ward off political threats posed by the party’s own anti-Marathi leaders. The arrangement suited both the Sena and the Congress.

In a quest to grow and widen its base,the Sena flirted with the Marathi cause and jumped on to the Hindutva bandwagon. This resulted in the party losing its base while failing to make any significant inroads into the non-Marathi population.

Waiting in the wings to outsmart it was Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s maverick nephew,Raj. The younger Thackeray quickly sensed the opportunity and launched a battle to decide on the Sena chief’s successor. This election outcome narrates his big success story.

In Mumbai,the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has gone from seven to 28 seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation while recording similar results across all cities,including Pune,Nashik and Thane. The message is clear: it will be his party that will have to be watched from here onwards. That’s one part of the election story.

Another,but more important and painful aspect is that Mumbai will perhaps continue to be governed the way that it has been run for the past 15 years of the Sena-BJP reign.

The city is India’s financial capital,where some of the richest and the most influential live,and they seem to have very little interest in the administration of this modern city — reflected in the polling percentage,which is a mere 46. On one hand,Mumbai signifies all that is good about emerging,aspiring India,and on the other,it stands for all that’s ailing the country. Mumbai,a Mercedes engine fitted on a bullock cart,needs political parties that will be drivers of development.

The writer is executive editor,‘Loksatta’,girish.kuber@expressindia.com