Story so far: Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is the next battleground for the two political alliances — Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi — after the recently concluded State polls. Dubbed Asia’s richest corporation, the civic body’s legislature lapsed in 2022 and has since then been run by a government-appointed administrator. Dates for the polls are yet to be announced by the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC).
Shiv Sena, which has ruled the civic body since 1985 (barring 1992-1996), faces an existential crisis in these polls. Similar to the Lok Sabha and these State polls, the two Shiv Sena factions led by Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray are set to clash head-on for the Sena’s Marathi votebase in Mumbai. Apart from these two factions, the BJP, which has been gaining ground in Mumbai, would like to expand its domain into the BMC, Mr. Thackeray’s power centre.
With the State’s mandate favouring the BJP-led Mahayuti, it is this coalition which holds the edge, says Dr. Mridul Nile, Associate Professor in Political Science, Mumbai University. “Demography of Mumbai is changing. Lot of non-Maharashtrian population is shifting to Mumbai while the Marathi-speaking and the Konkan migrants population is shifting to other municipal corporations like Kalyan-Dombivli, Thane, Virar, Vasai and Navi Mumbai. They (Shiv Sena) will win in those corporations, however Mumbai has become more cosmopolitan and it is the BJP which has a client base of both Maharashtrians and non-Maharashtrians,” Dr. Nile says.
The Congress, on the other hand, faces a battle for survival as it seeks to hold on to its dying vestiges in the city. “Congress, which had quite a robust organisational structure in Mumbai, has lost it, just like it has nationally, to the BJP. It is now reduced to some minority slum pockets in Mumbai. I don’t believe that Congress has much of a chance of revival in this. In fact, it is not just a matter of revival, it is survival,” says Dr. Ajinkya Gaikwad, Assistant Professor of Politics, SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce. He adds, “The idea of postponing elections, bringing up ward issues, OBC quota was a ploy to extinguish the matter for sometime; get a mandate in the State and come back strongly in the city. For BJP, losing 5-10 assembly seats is OK but stakes in Mumbai are very high.”
Here’s a look at the fierce battle for the BMC and how it became a Sena fiefdom.
1996-1984: Rise and alliance with Congress
Since its formation in 1966, Shiv Sena has been active in the city’s civic body polls. In 1968, when elections were held for the first time in 140 single-member constituencies across Bombay (as it was named then), Shiv Sena made its electoral debut, winning 42 seats. The Congress won 64 seats, falling two seats short of a majority. Its candidate Dr. R.N. Kulkarni became the city’s first elected mayor, defeating Dr. H.S. Gupte, who had the Shiv Sena’s backing.
Since then, Shiv Sena has steadily gained clout in the BMC. The split of Congress into two – Congress (O) and Congress (R), favoured the Shiv Sena, whoch got its candidate Dr. Hemachandra Gupte elected as mayor in 1971. In the 1973 polls, no party gained a clear majority, with Congress (R) finishing first with 45 seats, and Shiv Sena a close second with 39 seats. Sena’s Sudhir Joshi was elected as the mayor, winning 76 votes.
With the advent of Emergency in 1975, Shiv Sena was one of the few parties which sided with the Congress and reaped its benefits in Bombay. Senior Shiv Sainik Manohar Joshi won the Bombay mayoral elections in 1976, securing 65 votes compared to Congress candidate Baburao Shete’s 63. It returned the favour in 1977 by backing Congress’ Murli Deora and withdrawing its own candidate Mr. Wamanrao Mahadik, mere minutes before the Municipal Corporation Council’s meeting,Today News 24 reported.
Following the rise of the Janata government at the Centre in 1978, Indira Gandhi formed a new faction, the Congress (I), and returned to power within two years. During this time, the Janata Party managed to win the BMC polls, bagging 85 of the 140 seats, while the Sena, which had allied with Congress and Congress (I), was reduced to 22 seats. Janata Party’s Raju Chimbulkar was elected as the mayor. Between 1980-84, Congress (I) splintered into another faction Congress (U); the Janata Party retained control of the BMC during this period.
Today News 24’s article on April 10, 1983
“For the first time in the history of the Bombay Municipal Corporation, a Sikh. Mr. Manmohan Singh Bedi of the Janata Party, has been elected Mayor,” Today News 24 reported on April 10, 1983 as Mr. Bedi bagged 102 votes against 32 votes cast for Congress (I)’s Mr. R. M. Dube.
1985-1992: Sena takes control
In 1985, the Sena finally took control of the BMC, winning winning 74 of the 140 seats it contested, although it fell 12 seats shy of a majority in the 170-seat civic body. Coming in second was the Congress (I), which won 37 seats. Congress (S) and Janata Party won 19 seats while the BJP won 13 seats. Chhagan Bhujbal, a Shiv Sainik who had risen from the shakhas, was elected as the mayor.
“The newly-elected corporators belonging to the Shiv Sena held a five-day meeting at Lonavala to discuss and prepare a blueprint for the development of Bombay,” Today News 24 notedon May 3, 1985. Listing the 1,50,000 unlicensed hawkers in the city as one of its menacing problems, Shiv Sena vowed to keep the trade unions under control. In spite of efforts by a united Opposition, Shiv Sena remained steadfast at BMC’s helm. Then-Congress CM S.B Chavan was accused of letting the Shiv Sena thrive in legislative and civic bodies by former CM Vasantrao Patil.
“The fact is that it was Mr. Patil who first played into the hands of the Shiv Sena by giving the impression that Bombay was to be declared a “city State” separate from Maharashtra. The Sena played this card dexterously and won the Bombay Municipal Corporation,” noted Today News 24. A host of Shiv Sena mayors ruled the BMC during this period — Datta Nalawade, Ramesh Prabhoo, C.S. Padwal, Sharad Acharya, Chhagan Bhujbal and Diwakar N. Raote.
1992-1995: Congress rises again
Today News 24’s article on March 8, 1992
“After 14 years, the Congress(I) wrested control of the country’s largest civic body, the Bombay Municipal Corporation, which has a budget that can shame smaller States in the country. The Shiv Sena, which had ruled the roost in that body, is now back to the drawing boards,” reported Today News 24 on March 8, 1992. Winning 112 of the now 221 seats in the BMC, Congress (I) along with ally RPI (Athawale) managed to restrict the Shiv Sena to 71 seats, while the BJP scrapped through with 13 seats. RPI(A)’s Chandrakant Handore was elected as the Bombay Mayor.
In the years that followed, from 1992 to 1994, reports about the Shiv Sena losing relevance emerged. As Congress-RPI(A) continued to rule BMC, Today News 24 noted that the Shiv Sena, which arrived in the 1960s as a party for the ‘sons of the soil,’ had been unable to expand apart from increasing Maharashtrian presence in Bombay’s labour force. Its support for Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, its strong-arm tactics and erosion of its ideology showed signs of Shiv Sena losing its sheen,Today News 24 opined.
1996-2012: Sena retains BMC as BJP rises
In 1995, the BJP-Sena government stormed to power in Maharashtra, with Sena installing its first Maharashtra CM Manohar Joshi. On its heels of this victory, Shiv Sena, finally allied with the BJP, returned to power at the BMC in 1996 to head the chief civiv body of what was now Mumbai (Bombay’s name had been changed.) Amassing 115 of 221 votes, Shiv Sena’s Mr. Milind Vaidya was elected as mayor, defeating Congress (I)’s Mr. Pushpakant Mhatre. Throughout the BJP-Sena’s tenure at the State’s helm, Sena solidified its presence in Mumbai, also defying BJP in civic body elections in Thane, Nagpur, Amravati and Ulhasnagar. The rebellion of Mr. Sharad Pawar and the emergence of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) aided the Sena-BJP to exploit the split in the Congress votebase.
Today News 24’s article in 1999
During the Congress-NCP’s fifteen years running the State government (1999-2014), the Shiv Sena continued at the helm of the BMC, with BJP remaining as its ally. Sena’s Mahadeo Deole, Datta Dalvi, Shubha Raul, Shraddha Jadhav and Sunil Prabhu were elected as mayors. However, Raj Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief’s fiery nephew, had split away to form the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) in 2006. MNS took part in the 2007 polls, and debuted in the BMC with seven corporators.
Mumbai’s Marathi-speaking population and migrants from the Konkan region remained with the Sena, which managed to tackle anti-incumbency by replacing at least 50% of its corporators. In 2009, Sena even backed Congress-NCP’s President pick Pratibha Patil despite the Congress welcoming Sena rebel Narayan Rane along with several Sena MLAs.
Sena backs Pratibha Patil in 2009
“One view from the BJP side is that the Congress has promised to rein in Mr. Rane and not to humiliate the Sena by making its MLAs resign. Another view is that Mr. Thackeray has gambled and at stake is the Sena’s control over the Mumbai municipal corporation,” reported Today News 24, adding, “The Congress and the NCP with 71 and 14 seats can be of help to the Sena in retaining power in Mumbai if the BJP breaks away in protest against the Sena supporting the UPA Presidential candidate.”
In 2012, Mr. Raj Thackeray offered to reconcile with the Sena supremo, but not with his son Uddhav Thackeray. “Bal Thackeray, I am ready to accept your love, your call to take the first step. I am ready to take a hundred steps forward for you, but for Uddhav and his naïve supporters, I am not willing to take even one step,” said the MNS chief in a Mumbai rally, according to a report by Today News 24.
As the Shiv Sena rebuffed his advances, Raj Thackeray contested alone, managing to win 28 seats in the BMC at the cost of Shiv Sena, which won 75 seats. BJP, whose presence in the State was gradually increasing, maintained its limited inroads into the BMC, winning 31 seats and deferring to its elder brother Shiv Sena.
“Shiv Sena knows what civic administration is and how the ground networks for BMC elections work. Be it Uddhav Thackeray or Eknath Shinde, it is the Shiv Sena which has a strong ground network, which will fetch votes for either of them,” Mr. Nile said, when asked if the BMC will remain with Shiv Sena.
2017-2022: Mahayuti breaks
The 2014 Modi wave catapulted the BJP to popularity across India and the saffron alliance reaped its benefits in Maharashtra during the Lok Sabha elections, with BJP winning 23 seats while the Sena won 18 seats. The two parties also came to power in the State after striking up a tense post-poll alliance, a rather shaky tie-up.
Sena ropes in Hardik Patel
In 2017, the Sena once again ‘snapped ties’ ahead of the BMC elections. Sensing an opportunity, MNS began to woo the BJP to fill Sena’s vacuum in the saffron alliance. However, Mr. Fadnavis rebuffed its advances, and the parties contested solo. In a bid to retain Mumbai in the face of tough competition from the BJP, Sena roped in Hardik Patel, the face of Patidar agitation in Gujarat, to woo the Gujarati votes in Mumbai – a key vote base of the BJP. The gamble failed as BJP won 82 seats while the Sena won 84 of the 227 seats.
The fractured verdict forced the saffron parties to rethink their split. “The Congress wants to destabilise the government, and that is why they want to support the Shiv Sena’s mayoral candidate. The BJP and the Shiv Sena must be alert,” said Union minister Nitin Gadkari. The BJP finally relented and withdrew from the mayoral fight, backing Sena’s Vishwanath Mahadeshwar.
BJP relents in 2017, backs away from mayor fight
Seeing how close BJP came to dethroning the Sena in 2017 from the BMC, both experts (Mr. Nile and Mr. Gaikwad) say that it will be the BJP which will primarily fight Mr. Thackeray’s faction. “Through the years, BJP has been able to get away from its image of being a middle class party, only pandering to middle class initiatives and politics. It is now become a mass party catering to most of the migrant population (which constitutes 40% of the city’s population), barring a few pockets of Muslim migrant communities in Bandra and Kurla.”
In 2019, the two parties once again fell apart after the Maharashtra polls re-elected the BJP-Sena coalition with reduced power – BJP with 105 seats, Sena with 56. Refusing to let go of its demand for an equal split in portfolios and shared CM tenure, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray allied with the NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. With the backing of NCP and Congress, Shiv Sena’s mayoral candidate Kishori Pednekar won unopposed.
2022 onwards: Shiv Sena’s identity battles
In March 2022, for the first time since 1984, the BMC was put under an administrator’s rule. The SEC cited the inability to hold civic elections by March 2022 due to COVID-19 and put the civic body under the care of BMC commissioner Iqbal Chahal who also acted as its administrator. After Mr. Chahal, BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani has taken over as administrator.
With the rebellion of senior Sena leader Eknath Shinde in June that year, Shiv Sena was split into two, with the original chief Uddhav Thackeray stripped off his Chief ministership, his party, its name and symbol. Since then the two parties have clashed twice – in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. In both outings, Mr. Shinde has outperformed Mr. Thackeray in terms of seat-share. However, in most of the seats in Mumbai where the two Senas clashed, Mr. Thackeray has won.
Opining that the Congress should defer to Sena (UBT) in these civic polls, Mr. Nile says, “It is test for Uddhav Thackeray – does he still have control over the shakhas and do they have control over the people? I think the shakhas will remain with the original party, but he (Uddhav Thackeray) has to tighten his party’s nuts and bolts to ensure that these shakhas percolate through the people and give a tough fight to Shinde’s Sena.”
Mr. Gaikwad says, “It will very much be a BJP versus Uddhav Thackeray fight as whatever he (Thackeray) has to save Sena’s face is in Mumbai. In Bhandup, where Sunil Raut has come up, the Bhandup, Kanjurmarg, and Vikhroli belt will give a tough competition to the BJP. But other than that, Ghatkopar along with pockets of slums will favour the BJP. In this fight, migrant voters might vote en masse for the BJP due to the anti-migrant sentiment the Shiv Sena has historically shared.”
“However, the BJP will need Shinde to fight Uddhav Thackeray because it is also about the Marathi vote. They already have the non-Maharashtrian votes coming to them and via Shinde they can muster the Marathi votes,” concludes Mr. Nile.
(Special thanks to Mr. K Prabhakaran from the Index Department of Today News 24 Library)
Published – December 10, 2024 01:12 pm IST
