Mumbai: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the ruling Mahayuti’s, particularly the BJP’s, poll campaign ahead of next month’s Maharashtra assembly elections Saturday, he tried to score several goals in a single day.
The PM capitalised on the BJP’s strengths in Maharashtra—the Vidarbha region, a focal point of the party’s stated development agenda, and the support of the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
He started off his day-long tour with Washim in Vidarbha where he inaugurated the Banjara heritage museum and visited the Pohradevi temple, a pilgrimage site for the Banjara community. He then proceeded to Thane where he inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for projects worth Rs 32,800 crore. He also flagged off the BKC-Aarey Metro 3 line.
In his speeches at Washim and Thane, Modi came down heavily on the Congress and accused the opposition party of trying to pit communities against each other.
“Just like the British, the Congress family does not view Dalits, backward communities, tribals as equals. They think that if we all unite then their agenda to divide the country will fail,” PM Modi said.
The BJP will be contesting the upcoming polls with its Mahayuti allies, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In this year’s Lok Sabha elections, the Mahayuti suffered a significant blow, winning just 17 seats out of 48, a stark dip from the 2014 and 2019 polls where the BJP in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena won 41 seats.
“Mahayuti government thinks only of development whereas MVA is anti-development. They stall projects that our government starts. And so, for a development-oriented government, you need to keep MVA out of power,” PM Modi said.
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The importance of Vidarbha
Vidarbha, which lies in the eastern region of Maharashtra, has been a crucial battleground for the BJP. This division has a total of 62 assembly and 10 Lok Sabha seats. Vidarbha had been a Congress bastion until the 1990s when the BJP-Shiv Sena started making inroads in the region.
Post that, for a long time, Vidarbha remained with the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine swept the region, whereas in 2019, it had won 9 out of 10 seats, while the Congress won only Chandrapur.
In the 2014 assembly polls, all four parties contested separately. The BJP won 45 seats while the Shiv Sena won 4.
In 2019, their performance dipped. The BJP won 29 seats while Shiv Sena got 7 seats so the combined managed to win just over half of the Vidarbha seats.
However, post the formation of the MVA, equations in the state changed. From winning zilla parishads to Lok Sabha, the Congress started regaining lost ground in Vidarbha.
This time, the MVA alliance won 7 out 10 seats while the BJP managed to win Nagpur and Akola and Shinde’s Shiv Sena managed to clinch only Buldhana.
This makes Vidharbha a key region where the BJP is bent on regaining lost ground.
On Saturday, Modi inaugurated the Banjara Virasat Museum in Washim and various other initiatives related to agriculture and animal husbandry with a total investment of Rs 23,300 crore. He also urged all those passionate about history and culture, to visit the museum.
He offered prayers at the Pohradevi temple and also offered tributes at Sant Sevalal Maharaj’s samadhi. He even played the ‘Nangara’, an instrument that holds a special place in Banjara culture.
“Our government will make every possible effort to make this culture even more popular in the times to come,” he said.
He further said: “Congress had kept Banjaras away from the mainstream and avenues of development. Congress has a foreign mindset to exploit the backwardness and poverty of adivasis, Dalits and OBCs to its political advantage. A weaker nation and poverty suits Congress politics.”
The Banjara Samaj that is considered a nomadic tribe is spread across the country, and in Maharashtra, it has about three to four crore members.
The Pohradevi shrine in the Washim district is sacred to the Banjara community and often referred as the ‘Kashi’ of Banjara Samaj. Sant Sevalal Maharaj is revered by the Banjara community as a spiritual guru.
Mumbai’s development
Modi Saturday also inaugurated phase 1 of Mumbai’s Metro 3 line from BKC to Aarey, a project that was started during the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena government. The first phase, which runs from BKC to Aarey, faced much controversy because of the car depot’s location in the Aarey forest, the city’s largest green patch.
The BJP has constantly credited itself for developing Mumbai and often criticised the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena for stalling Mumbai’s development.
Be it Metro projects or the longest sea bridge, the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), or the coastal road, or the Navi Mumbai international airport, PM Modi and BJP have often credited themselves for boosting Mumbai’s infrastructure projects.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Modi inaugurated the MTNL, also known as Atal Setu, with much fanfare.
At the inauguration, he praised the Mahayuti government and slammed the previous Congress-NCP government for taking a decade to build the Bandra Worli Sea Link, which is much shorter than the MTHL.
He has also often pushed for his dream project—the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train—work on which was stalled during the MVA government. However, as soon as the Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power, land acquisition for the project resumed pace.
PM Modi inauguarated the first phase of Mumbai Metro 3 from BKC-Aarey, which was controversial because of the car depot location in the Aarey forest. The previous Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government did not give permission to build the metro car depot at Aarey, a decision the Mahayuti reversed when it came to power.
“The Metro 3 line work was started during Devendra Fadnavis’s time. But the work was stalled by the MVA. MVA also tried to stop the work of bullet train. They even opposed the Atal Setu that joins Navi Mumbai to Mumbai. Those people are anti development and need to be kept out of power,” Modi said Saturday.
“We have to do development and fill the potholes of Congress and its allies,” he added.
It is important for the Mahayuti to win maximum seats in Mumbai. Mumbai has 36 assembly seats and Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena has a stronghold in Mumbai. In Lok Sabha elections, the MVA won 4 out of 6 seats, with Uddhav’s Sena winning 3 of them.
In Thane, solid boost to CM Shinde
Lending his solid support to Eknath Shinde, PM Modi addressed a rally in the CM’s home turf Thane. Shinde, who rebelled and created a vertical split in the Shiv Sena in 2022, was made chief minister at the behest of central BJP leadership.
On Saturday, Modi reposed his faith once again in Shinde who delivered better than expected in Lok Sabha by winning 7 out of 15 seats, a strike rate much better than the BJP’s (9 out of 28).
At Thane, Modi laid the foundation stone for projects worth Rs 32,800 crore. This includes the Thane Integral Ring Metro project, Elevated Eastern Freeway Extension, and the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA).
These development works will give a modern identity to Mumbai and Thane, Modi said.
“This was a lot of work as we had to focus on development and handle Congress at the same time. While we say make toilets, Congress levies tax on toilets,” Modi further said, referring to the ‘toilet tax’ row in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh.
Taking further potshots at Congress, he said the party is run by “a gang of urban naxals”.
Crediting CM Shinde and his cabinet for starting the ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’, the PM alleged that if the MVA comes to power, they would stop the scheme.
“We started Ladki Bahin Yojana here where women get Rs 1,500 and 3 cylinders free and this has hurt the MVA. So if they come to power, they will stop this scheme,” he claimed.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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