Mumbai: It’s the clash of morchas in Mumbai. Ahead of elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, both Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Maharashtra’s ruling alliance of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will hit the streets Saturday evening in an attempt to capture one of Maharashtra’s most crucial civic bodies.
The protest marches will see each side target the other for alleged graft in the BMC — a body that both have ruled in the past.
For 20 years from 1997, the BJP and the then undivided Shiv Sena had together helmed the BMC. In 2017, however, that alliance broke, with both parties fighting that year’s elections separately. Eventually, the Shiv Sena, then headed by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, triumphed, ruling the civic body until 2022.
In March 2022, when its term ended and elections were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the body was brought under an administrator nominated by the state government, then ruled by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). That administrator, Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, continued even after the MVA government fell in June 2022, to be replaced by a government led by Shinde.
On its part, the Shiv Sena (UBT) will highlight “corruption” on various projects undertaken by BMC — the party has been claiming irregularities in the civic body’s road tender processes, ongoing Mumbai beautification project, and its decision to buy Rs 263-crore worth of street furniture for the city, among other things.
The BJP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena, meanwhile, plans to highlight the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) ongoing probe into the alleged corruption in the various contracts awarded during the COVID-19 pandemic — the alliance has dubbed its protest Chor machaye shor (which roughly translates into thief is making a racket), mocking the other protest.
Both morchas will take place round the same time at 4 pm Saturday, sources in both parties told ThePrint
The timing of the protests are significant, given that it comes exactly a year after the fall of the Uddhav government. It also comes over a week after the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at several properties — some of them belonging to close aides of Uddhav — in connection with its investigation.
According to leaders from the ruling dispensation in the state, the BMC elections are likely to be held later this year or early next, although a formal schedule has not been announced yet.
The protest marches are crucial to both Shiv Sena (UBT) and the BJP. For the former, it’s an effort to hold on to Mumbai despite Shinde’s to make inroads into a city where the Thackerays have traditionally been strong and where a majority of the MLAs are still with their faction.
To the BJP, meanwhile, this presents an opportunity: with a vertical split in the Shiv Sena, the BJP is seemingly hoping to gain some ground by tapping into voters who are disillusioned with Uddhav.
“In the run up to the BMC elections, this is a posturing from both sides,” political commentator Sanjay Jog told ThePrint. “It is ironic because BJP and Shiv Sena shared power for the longest time and nobody, including Shinde, thought of misappropriation of funds. But none of them are bothered about Mumbaikars and it’s a sad state of affairs.”
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March vs March
It’s Thackeray scion Aaditya who will lead the march for the Shiv Sena (UBT) along with senior party leaders, the party announced on 20 June. For this, it has been holding meetings to devise a plan, with Uddhav having held meetings with Mumbai Shiv Sena shakha pramukhs, or unit heads, and ex-corporators to mobilise his cadre.
The Sena UBT had also released a video teaser earlier this month in the run-up to this march highlighting the various “corruption scams” it accuses the BMC as well as Shinde government of. In his tweet Friday, Aaditya said: “We will ask questions to the ‘khoke sarkar’ regarding the theft of Mumbaikars’ money. Those trying to destroy Mumbai will have to answer”.
‘Khoke sarkar’ is a reference to the allegations by Uddhav loyalists that they were offered Rs 50 crore by the rebels to switch over to the Shinde faction. The latter has denied having made any such offers.
On its part, the BJP-Sena alliance has released posters highlighting the alleged financial misappropriations in the BMC during COVID, when Uddhav was still CM.
“We are taking out this morcha on behalf of Mumbaikars,” Ashish Shelar, president of Mumbai BJP, said while speaking to reporters Friday. “We will directly ask Uddhavji and his son what they did with BMC’s money in the last 25 years? But will also ask them about the Rs 12,000 crore scam during COVID.”’
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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