In August, Congress politician Nitesh Rane was roundly pilloried when he said that members of Mumbai's Gujarati community who praised Narendra Modi should go back to back to Gujarat. Yet that one-off comment has now become almost the mainstream narrative as Maharashtra’s politicians lay into Prime Minister Modi for his Gujarat obsession. Over the past week, a host of politicians have signaled to their followers that Modi plans to undermine Maharashtra – chiefly Mumbai – for the benefit of Gujarat.
Raj Thackeray, who heads the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which often campaigns against so-called outsiders in the state, has come out all guns blazing about Modi’s obsession with showcasing Gujarat’s achievements and culture.
Why, Thackeray wanted to know, is Modi building a bullet train connection between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and not to any other city? What will the passengers on the train do, he taunted: eat dhokla? Further, said Thackeray, why did the event at Madison Square Garden, where Modi addressed US-based Indians, include a performance of the garba, Gujarat’s traditional dance?
Old resentments
Raj Thackeray’s strategy is clear. Mindful of not letting Maharashtrian votes stray to the BJP, he is tapping into an old sense of resentment among Marathi speakers about the residents of their neighbouring state. Mentioning Gujarat invokes memories of the bloody agitation in the late 1950s, when the Samyukta Maharashtra movement fought on the streets to demand that Mumbai should be included in Maharashtra state, rather than becoming a Union territory, as Nehru had proposed. More than 100 people died in police firing ordered by Morarji Desai, a Gujarati who was the chief minister of the territory that was then called Bombay state.
It has been over 50 years since Maharashtra was formed, with Mumbai as its capital, and the Gujarati community is fully immersed in the city’s culture. But petty grievances remain. Gujaratis are often portrayed as rich and exploitative, though this hard-working business community generates more jobs than it takes away from Maharashtrians. In fact, in the very early days of the Shiv Sena, founder Bal Thackeray used to mock Gujaratis, before later fixing on “dhotiwalla” South Indians as his target.
Fuel to the fire
In the campaign for the October 15 elections, Gujarat is part of the rhetoric again. Some politicians are alleging that Modi is undermining Mumbai, and all of Maharashtra’s economic success, in order to boost Gujarat. Congress politician Narayan Rane claims that the Mumbai Port Trust, which is more than a century old, is slowly being killed off so that shipping traffic can shift to Gujarat’s ports. He has raised fears that Modi plans to eventually move the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India out of Mumbai, detracting from the city’s status as a financial centre. In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections last May, politicians of every hue in Maharashtra bristled when Modi projected Gujarat as superior to Maharashtra during speeches in his home state, especially since on most economic parameters, especially on investment, Maharashtra has done far better.
The Shiv Sena and the MNS had further ammunition late last month when the Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, addressing Mumbai businessmen, asked them to leave their “crowded and dirty city” and move investments and even their families to Gujarat. “I have been told it takes you a couple of hours to go from one place to another,” she is reported to have said in her speech. “That frightens me.”
The Shiv Sena, MNS and Rane immediately saw another conspiracy to undermine the city that Gujarat had lost. At the ground level, fears are being spread by party activists that the Gujarati community is more loyal to the state of their origin and seek to end Mumbai’s status as the country’s commercial capital.
Gujarati vote?
Never before has there been any talk of a Gujarati votebank, especially in conflict with the Marathi vote. The Gujarati population in the city, roughly 20% of the population, is fully immersed in Mumbai, where it has lived for centuries. After all, it was only in 1960 that Gujarat was carved out of Maharashtra to form a separate state. Mumbai's Gujarati community was traditionally pro-Congress, then slowly drifted towards soft-Hindutva, and are now said to be big supporters of Narendra Modi.
The BJP-Shiv Sena combine, which broke up recently after 25 years together, neatly covered both Gujaratis and Maharashtrians. But now, with five big parties in the fray, each vote matters and every trick is being pulled out of the hat. The Senas have fallen back to the one thing they know best: promoting native chauvinism.
Will this strategy pay electoral dividends? At best, it will ensure that the Marathi voters in the Mumbai-Thane belt do not stray towards Narendra Modi and the BJP. The Shiv Sena – and others – fear that young Maharashtrians may be seduced by Modi’s promises of economic growth and could jettison nativist appeals. The BJP has noted the Sena’s attacks but chosen not to respond on the Gujarat vs Maharashtra provocation.
During their alliance, the Sena and the BJP swept their differences under the carpet and concentrated on building on their strengths. The parting has been bitter. The Shiv Sena knows that taking on Modi will not be easy, which is why they, and other parties, are raking up these emotive – and divisive – issues.
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Raj Thackeray, who heads the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which often campaigns against so-called outsiders in the state, has come out all guns blazing about Modi’s obsession with showcasing Gujarat’s achievements and culture.
Why, Thackeray wanted to know, is Modi building a bullet train connection between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and not to any other city? What will the passengers on the train do, he taunted: eat dhokla? Further, said Thackeray, why did the event at Madison Square Garden, where Modi addressed US-based Indians, include a performance of the garba, Gujarat’s traditional dance?
Old resentments
Raj Thackeray’s strategy is clear. Mindful of not letting Maharashtrian votes stray to the BJP, he is tapping into an old sense of resentment among Marathi speakers about the residents of their neighbouring state. Mentioning Gujarat invokes memories of the bloody agitation in the late 1950s, when the Samyukta Maharashtra movement fought on the streets to demand that Mumbai should be included in Maharashtra state, rather than becoming a Union territory, as Nehru had proposed. More than 100 people died in police firing ordered by Morarji Desai, a Gujarati who was the chief minister of the territory that was then called Bombay state.
It has been over 50 years since Maharashtra was formed, with Mumbai as its capital, and the Gujarati community is fully immersed in the city’s culture. But petty grievances remain. Gujaratis are often portrayed as rich and exploitative, though this hard-working business community generates more jobs than it takes away from Maharashtrians. In fact, in the very early days of the Shiv Sena, founder Bal Thackeray used to mock Gujaratis, before later fixing on “dhotiwalla” South Indians as his target.
Fuel to the fire
In the campaign for the October 15 elections, Gujarat is part of the rhetoric again. Some politicians are alleging that Modi is undermining Mumbai, and all of Maharashtra’s economic success, in order to boost Gujarat. Congress politician Narayan Rane claims that the Mumbai Port Trust, which is more than a century old, is slowly being killed off so that shipping traffic can shift to Gujarat’s ports. He has raised fears that Modi plans to eventually move the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India out of Mumbai, detracting from the city’s status as a financial centre. In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections last May, politicians of every hue in Maharashtra bristled when Modi projected Gujarat as superior to Maharashtra during speeches in his home state, especially since on most economic parameters, especially on investment, Maharashtra has done far better.
The Shiv Sena and the MNS had further ammunition late last month when the Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, addressing Mumbai businessmen, asked them to leave their “crowded and dirty city” and move investments and even their families to Gujarat. “I have been told it takes you a couple of hours to go from one place to another,” she is reported to have said in her speech. “That frightens me.”
The Shiv Sena, MNS and Rane immediately saw another conspiracy to undermine the city that Gujarat had lost. At the ground level, fears are being spread by party activists that the Gujarati community is more loyal to the state of their origin and seek to end Mumbai’s status as the country’s commercial capital.
Gujarati vote?
Never before has there been any talk of a Gujarati votebank, especially in conflict with the Marathi vote. The Gujarati population in the city, roughly 20% of the population, is fully immersed in Mumbai, where it has lived for centuries. After all, it was only in 1960 that Gujarat was carved out of Maharashtra to form a separate state. Mumbai's Gujarati community was traditionally pro-Congress, then slowly drifted towards soft-Hindutva, and are now said to be big supporters of Narendra Modi.
The BJP-Shiv Sena combine, which broke up recently after 25 years together, neatly covered both Gujaratis and Maharashtrians. But now, with five big parties in the fray, each vote matters and every trick is being pulled out of the hat. The Senas have fallen back to the one thing they know best: promoting native chauvinism.
Will this strategy pay electoral dividends? At best, it will ensure that the Marathi voters in the Mumbai-Thane belt do not stray towards Narendra Modi and the BJP. The Shiv Sena – and others – fear that young Maharashtrians may be seduced by Modi’s promises of economic growth and could jettison nativist appeals. The BJP has noted the Sena’s attacks but chosen not to respond on the Gujarat vs Maharashtra provocation.
During their alliance, the Sena and the BJP swept their differences under the carpet and concentrated on building on their strengths. The parting has been bitter. The Shiv Sena knows that taking on Modi will not be easy, which is why they, and other parties, are raking up these emotive – and divisive – issues.