RACE FOR THE MAXIMUM CITY

IN INDIA'S FINANCIAL CAPITAL, A HIGH-STAKES ELECTORAL BATTLE BREWS AS MAHARASHTRA'S RULING MAHAYUTI AND ITS OPPONENT MVA VIE FOR SUPREMACY

- DHAVAL S. KULKARNI

It is May 8, and Arvind Sawant, the incumbent Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP running for re-election from Mumbai South, and his entourage find themselves in the midst of bursting crackers, a shower of rose petals and resounding chants of “vote for mashaal (flaming torch)”. Sawant is passing through Bara Imam Road, and the hard-bitten Sena leader is getting a rousing reception in what is the heart of Mumbai’s Muslim quarters. The place is not far from Nagpada, where members of the Chhota Shakeel gang in 1998 allegedly gunned down Salim Badgujar, a Shiv Sainik, for opening a Shiv Sena branch.

“This is the first time in my life that I have seen Muslims supporting a Sena candidate with such enthusiasm,” says Javed Mansuri, president of the Mansuri Jamat. The undivided Sena traditionally shared a bristling relationship with the Muslims, particularly after its shift towards Hindu right-wing politics in the late 1980s. The party’s purported involvement in communal conflicts, including the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai, only deepened the fault lines.