BMC Elections 2017: May This Be A Vote For Empowering Mumbaikars 

The recent antics of the Shiv Sena, ahead of the upcoming BMC elections, show once more that wisdom has nothing to do with age. Shiv-Sena is clearly in the throes of a mid-life crisis, having completed 50 years of its existence, last year. Has the Shiv Sena managed to make good the main reasons for which it was created?

In June 1966, over a dozen people gathered at Bal Thackeray’s home and broke a coconut, and pronto, the Sena was born, to protect the rights of “sons of the soil” and further the cause of Marathi asmita (ethos), specifically speaking. Shiv Sainiks then, had to take an oath that they wouldn’t sell property to non-Marathis, buy goods from Marathi shopkeepers only and boycott Udupi restaurants. In the 1960s and 1970s, trade and finance were monopolised by Gujaratis, restaurant business by south Indians. Maharashtrians were left to fend for low paying, blue-collared jobs.This, along with the rise of Communists who controlled mill workers, gave the Sena the perfect ground to tap into unemployed youth and the capitalists who feared the growing clout of Communists.

Alas, the Sena could not capitalise on its ‘Marathi manoos’ agenda for too long and too far, despite Bal Thackeray's dynamism. If anything, the Sena's theme of ‘Maharashtra only for natives’, alienated the Marathi-speaking class as a community, doing them more harm than good, over the decades.

Things only got worse after Balasaheb's demise. Marathi youth need to ask themselves if they are better off today, than 50 years back. Has Shiv Sena been able to deliver on its lofty promises? The answer is a vehement no. Equally, after rubbishing south Indians & north Indians as 'lungiwaalas' and 'bhaiyyas' in a rabid display of xenophobia, the Sena forever lost its claim to be a national level, holistic, cosmopolitan party that can govern based on 'inclusion'. After trashing Biharis and 'UP waalas' for decades together, it is laughable therefore to see Uddhav Thackeray and his troops today, fawning over 'outsiders' aka Kanhaiya Kumar and Hardik Patel.

Abdicating its Marathi asmita agenda has nothing to do with Shiv Sena's newfound love for an inclusive Mumbai but is simply political opportunism at play. From Marathi manoos to Hindutva, to now befriending alleged seditionists out on bail, the Sena has indeed come a long way and what a fall from grace,it has been.

The Shiv Sena led-BMC, despite a budget of more than Rs 37000 crores, has left Mumbai in a shoddy mess on every count: from unreliable water supply, pothole-filled roads, poor waste management, stifling pollution, lopsided property taxes, declining open spaces, congested parking lots, shabby health and education facilities in municipal hospital and schools to the plethora of scams, viz., the sewerage, octroi, desilting and road scams, the Sena has flattered to deceive honest taxpayers. Surely, Mumbaikars deserve better, don't they? What is most appalling however, is the fact that in a glaring display of power without accountability, the BMC has not conducted any audit in the last four years,

It is the uncompromising attitude of the BJP-led Fadnavis government that stands for transparency, with zero tolerance for corruption, that finally led to the BJP and Shiv Sena parting ways and each deciding to contest the civic body elections on its own merit or otherwise. Amidst the electoral battle, what is unpardonable is the fact that the Sena, which talks of Samyukta Maharashtra and Hindutva on one hand, leaves no opportunity to eulogize thugs from JNU, of 'Bharat ki Barbaadi Tak Jang Rahegi, Jang Rahegi' infamy, on the other. Uddhav Thackeray's party, despite being in alliance with the Modi government at the Centre, has the audacity to question India's surgical strikes on Pakistan, thereby insulting the supreme sacrifice and valour of our martyrs.

Coming back to the 'mudda' of development, the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in Maharashtra has done more in the last twenty seven months than what a corrupt Congress-NCP did or rather  'did not do', in its fifteen years in power. As part of the 'Make in Maharashtra' week in February 2016, 8 lakh crores of investment have been registered, paving the way for more than 30 lakh employment opportunities in the next few years. MOUs  have been signed and work is in progress or ready to commence in most cases, be it Foxconn, Coca Cola, Mercedes Benz, Oracle, Monsanto, Diageo, Blackstone, Cisco and many more. Infrastructure facilities such as Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Coastal Road project, Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway, Pune Metro, Mumbai Metro-3 via Colaba-Bandra-Seepz, are set to transform the landscape of Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nagpur, forever.

Again, while the Shiv Sena has run into controversy with the death of a penguin, while trying to fly down Humboldt penguins from South Korea, after having failed to upgrade the Byculla zoo, despite promises of doing so, the BJP has walked the talk, with the first Tiger Corridor in the world being built in Maharashtra.

BJP's commitment to a clean, green and a vibrant Maharashtra is evident from the 2.84 crore trees that were planted on a single day in July 2016, a feat recognized by the Limca Book Of World Records. The target now is, to plant 50 crore trees in next 3 years. 5 cities, 16 talukas and 7800 Gram Panchayatas have been declared Open Defecation Free, with Sindhudurg having the distinction of being named as the most 'Swachch' district in India.

In its vision for inclusive growth, a proposal has been sent by the Fadnavis government to grant 'Classical Language' status to Marathi. Implementation of the Dr Zakir Hussain Madrasa Modernization Scheme has begun in the state. It has also been decided to teach Urdu as an optional subject in non Marathi schools and Marathi in Urdu schools.

The moot point to be noted here is, that under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the BJP, in Maharashtra, has outperformed others on every count, including housing, where  it has been decided to redevelop MHADA colonies and give them additional FSI of 4. Again, a huge feat has been accomplished on the 'health' front, with 937 fully equipped ambulances that are in service, round the clock, under the Maharashtra Emergency Service, with specific focus on pregnant women in remote villages. For the first time, in a long time, there has been no maternal pregnancy-related death in Melghat area in the last six months. Contrast this with some of the Shiv Sena led BMC hospitals in Mumbai, which can often turn out to be a harrowing experience, for the afflicted.

To put it in a nutshell, BMC election is not merely about exercising one's right to vote or throwing out an incumbent Shiv Sena which has failed Mumbaikars over and over again with brazen callousness, but more importantly, it is about empowering the citizenry with a better quality of life that every aspirational Mumbaikar works hard for.

While the Congress-NCP duo learnt nothing from the dastardly 26/11 attack on Mumbai, the Fadnavis-led  BJP government has put up world class, 4717 CCTV cameras across 1510 locations in the city, as development without security is self-defeating. The BJP has seamlessly straddled the rural urban divide too. On one hand there is the resounding success of the Jal Yukta Shivar Abhiyan that is set to free 25000 villages from the slavery of droughts and water scarcity across Maharashtra, while on the other, Mumbai now has 585 WiFi hot spots, with the tally set to reach 1200 in a few months.

While Uddhav Thackeray's new 'friend', Arvind Kejriwal, promised a WiFi-ed Delhi and then happily left Delhi-ites in shambles, Mumbaikars have yet another reason on 21st February 2017, to vote for the BJP and let the lotus bloom in all its glory and magnanimity.