BJP leaders in Mumbai echoed “next Mayor will be ours” at the party’s first campaign — ‘Jagar Mumbaicha’ (Awakening Mumbai) — on Sunday ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, whose dates are yet to be announced.
The BJP said it will take on Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, an ally in the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, and accused Thackeray of corruption and religious appeasement.
“Take whoever’s vote you want, neither Marathis nor Muslims will vote for you (Uddhav). But our question is — why did the time even come for you to ask for votes on caste and religious lines. You (Shiv Sena) enjoyed control over the BMC for over 25 years, right? Why don’t you ask for votes based on the work that you did?” said Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar.
Notably, the campaign was launched at Government Colony grounds in Bandra, almost a kilometer away from Matoshree, the Thackeray’s residence in Kalanagar. BJP leaders say this was a deliberate signal to Uddhav Thackeray.
The campaign, launched by Shelar and BJP MP from Mumbai North Central Poonam Mahajan, will cover all 36 assembly segments in the city.
The Shiv Sena has been at the helm of BMC for nearly three decades. In 2017, the party won 84 out of the 227 wards, with the BJP finishing a close second at 82.
With the Sena split vertically after chief minister Eknath Shinde’s rebellion in June, the BJP says it is confident of making inroads into Asia’s richest civic body.
Reportedly, home minister Amit Shah during his visit to Mumbai in September had set a target of 150 seats in the BMC polls for the BJP, which is in alliance with Shinde’s Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena faction.
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the alliance “will end corruption in the BMC and unfurl the saffron flag atop the BMC.”
UDDHAV’S M2 FORMULA
Ever since the BJP and Shiv Sena’s alliance fell apart after the 2019 Assembly polls, the latter has been accused of diluting party founder Balasaheb Thackeray’s vocal position on Hindutva.
“He (Uddhav) is trying to redefine Hindutva by making it more inclusive, and progressive so as to accommodate all sections of the society,” said Sudhir Suryawanshi, author of ‘Checkmate: How the BJP won and lost Maharashtra’.
The recent instances of the Sena mouthpiece Saamana carrying an article about the Marathi Muslim Seva Sangh backing Thackeray and his mention of the Bilkis Bano case at the Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park last month drew the BJP’s ire.
“The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Party wants to garner Marathi and Muslim votes, but it cleverly played with the words by calling them Marathi Muslims,” Shelar said.
According to the Census 2011 data, Muslims form nearly 21% of the population in Mumbai while the Marathi-speaking people comprise around 30%.
The Uddhav camp, on its part, said the party was never against Muslims. “If you look at the old speeches of Balasaheb Thackeray, he never hated them (Muslims). If the RSS chief can go to a mosque and woo Muslims, why can’t we?” said Dr. Manisha Kayande, spokesperson and MLC of Shiv Sena (UBT).
Kayande also said the BMC polls will be an uphill task for the party, given the split in the Shiv Sena
Analysts say Uddhav’s accommodative stance is a tactic to expand its voter base. “For Mumbai, Uddhav Thackeray is trying to do the M2 social engineering. One M stands for Marathis and the other for Muslims. While the BJP may have the Gujarati, Marwadi, and North Indian vote, coming together of these two communities for Uddhav would mean a herculean task for the BJP,” author Suryawanshi explained.
The BJP has never won a clear majority in the BMC election on its own — the 2017 tally being the closest.
The schedule for the BMC elections has not been announced yet. However, political watchers say the BJP will go all out for the battle, given the high stakes, and that a win could potentially cut Uddhav’s political career to size.
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