Mumbai: With the Mumbai civic polls expected to be held later this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Mumbai Friday, for the second time in less than a month, to flag off two Vande Bharat trains and inaugurate two intracity flyovers, as well as a vehicular underpass.
The PM will also continue his outreach to the Bohra community, by inaugurating a new campus of the Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, the premier educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohras, at Mumbai’s Marol.
During his last visit to Mumbai on 19 January, Modi had inaugurated two new Metro railway lines and conducted the groundbreaking ceremony for a few other projects, including sewage treatment plants and road concretisation.
The two new Vande Bharat Express trains to be flagged off by the PM Tuesday, will run between Mumbai and Solapur and Mumbai and Shirdi, and originate from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
Modi will also digitally inaugurate a 3.8-kilometre elevated road from Kurla to Vakola and a 1.2-km flyover between Kurla’s LBS Road and MTNL junction — both of which aim to decongest Mumbai’s plush Bandra Kurla Complex business district — as well as a vehicular underpass at Kurar Village in Malad, according to information from the state government.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai Thursday, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “We should be happy that the PM is coming so frequently to Mumbai. We hope that he keeps coming here more often. This means that Maharashtra and Mumbai are on the PM’s agenda. So I think there is no reason to look at this visit any differently.”
He added: “The two Vande Bharat trains being flagged off are very important for devotees. Many pilgrims go to Shirdi. Solapur district is a very spiritual one. There are places like Pandharpur and Akkalkot, which will now get very fast connectivity from Mumbai.”
The elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are expected to be held this year. The term of the last general body lapsed on 8 March last year and since then the civic body has been under the jurisdiction of a state-appointed administrator.
The elections follow a split within the Shiv Sena last year, when a group of rebel MLAs led by Eknath Sinde broke away from the party to align with the BJP, resulting in the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state — a coalition of the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. The Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena and the BJP coalition then went on to form government in the state, with Shinde as CM.
While the undivided Shiv Sena has been in power at the BMC for the past 25 years, with most of this term being in an alliance with the BJP, the latter has vowed to wrest control of India’s richest civic body this time.
Also read: How PM’s Mumbai visit sets agenda for Shinde’s Sena — ‘we are all Modi’s men’
Outreach to the Dawoodi Bohra community
According to information provided by the state government, after the inauguration of the transport infrastructure projects, Modi will make his way to Marol to inaugurate the new Mumbai campus of the Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah.
The institute’s main campus is in Surat, while it also has campuses in Karachi and Nairobi, according to the institution’s website. The institution started classes in Mumbai in 2013 in “temporary settings” while the campus at Marol was still under construction.
Modi Thursday tweeted about the inauguration saying, “In line with the great ethos of the Dawoodi Bohras, I am sure this campus will provide a futuristic learning environment to students.”
Will be in Mumbai tomorrow evening and join the programme to mark the inauguration of the new campus of @jamea_saifiyah Arabic Academy. In line with the great ethos of the @Dawoodi_Bohras, I am sure this campus will provide a futuristic learning environment to students. https://t.co/0WchjCAY0f
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2023
Last month, addressing the BJP’s national executive meeting, PM Modi had directed party workers to reach out to marginalised communities, specifically mentioning the Pasmanda and Bohra Muslims, regardless of whether they vote for the party or not.
Pasmanda, or backward Muslims, comprise about 80-85 per cent of India’s Muslims, while the Bohras are a more affluent group, which in India is concentrated mostly in Gujarat — PM Modi’s home state — and Maharashtra.
“The BJP is not against any religion. PM Modi has said, sab ka saath, sab ka vikas, and that is the BJP’s motto. The community extended an invitation and the PMO accepted. There is nothing political about this,” said Keshav Upadhye, BJP Maharashtra spokesperson, about the scheduled inauguration.
Other campuses of the Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah too have been inaugurated by heads of states. The Nairobi campus of the Arabic institute had been inaugurated by then Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018, while the Karachi campus had been inaugurated by then Pakistan President General Zia-ul-Haq in 1983.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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