It’s again to the Sixties in Mumbai, going by the ballot rhetoric of the Thackeray cousins. Politically cornered and weakened by splits, the Shiv Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray have fallen again on Marathi id considerations to remain within the race to retain the Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC). The pre-split Shiv Sena was an ethusiastic espouser of the Hindutva agenda — and this labored electorally in Mumbai, which has seen an increase in migration from northern India. However with the Thackerays falling out with the BJP, they’ve sought to set the clock again, claiming that “this (the election) was the ultimate battle for Mumbai and Marathi manoos (individuals)”. Their shrill marketing campaign has flagged points comparable to capital shifting out of Maharashtra to Gujarat, militant vegetarianism, and the Mahayuti authorities’s aborted transfer to introduce the three-language system in faculties, in a bid to rally the Marathi manoos.
Marathi id birthed the Sena, and propelled it in its preliminary years, nevertheless it stays to be seen if id politics will work within the new Mumbai, a cosmopolitan metropolis of 20 million individuals, of which native Marathi audio system account for almost 30%. There was a resurgence of singular identities in politics — largely faith-centric — however, within the context of Mumbai, this alerts poor political creativeness. Sadly, the BJP, which began its marketing campaign with a concentrate on current investments in public infrastructure, has taken a cue from the Thackerays and altered its tune.
