2 days after son’s 2nd win as corporator, BJP’s Raj Purohit breathes his last

Born on August 31, 1955 at Phungani village in Rajasthan’s Sirohi district, Purohit came to Mumbai to study law at Government Law College. He joined student politics with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad during the anti-Emergency protests. His regular political career began with his becoming a corporator from Kalbadevi in 1990, and then a minister during the Shiv Sena government from 1995 to 1999

MUMBAI: Two days after his son Akash Raj Purohit won his second term as a corporator, five-time legislator Raj Purohit on Saturday night breathed his last at a city hospital.

Raj Purohit (Hindustan Times)

Born on August 31, 1955 at Phungani village in Rajasthan’s Sirohi district, Purohit came to Mumbai to study law at Government Law College. He joined student politics with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad during the anti-Emergency protests. His regular political career began with his becoming a corporator from Kalbadevi in 1990, and then a minister during the Shiv Sena government from 1995 to 1999.

“He was instrumental in pushing for redevelopment under Section 33 (7), which reduced the exploitation of tenants by developers and eased the process of redevelopment in South Mumbai,” said Atul Shah, ex-MLA from Mumbadevi and Purohit’s close associate. He also pushed for cluster redevelopment for C ward under the banner of Remaking of Mumbai Federation (ROMF), which, however, failed to take off.

“He was also the link between the trading and political community, facilitating meetings with bureaucrats and ministers,” recalls Vijay Kalantari, president of the All India Association of Industries. Known to speak his mind, it was also this factor that did him in. As the Mumbai city chief in 2011, his ‘vulgar’ statements of a girl who had shot a video of a pani puri vendor urinating in a jug went against him.

In a rally of street vendors, Purohit questioned the character of the girl who shot the video, which did not go down well. He was subsequently eased out of the Mumbai city chief post. However, what led to his probable downfall was a 2015 widely circulated sting video where he was seen badmouthing his party’s national and state leadership. He spoke about how the BJP was being dominated by two power centres, how Devendra Fadnavis was working under pressure and how the business community was upset with the BJP government for introducing strict new measures.

After the sting, Purohit earned the wrath of the party and never managed to rise again. He was denied a party ticket in the 2019 assembly elections. “The rival factions in the party played up the issue with the party leadership and used that controversy to the hilt,” said a close friend. “That upset him deeply, as his own partymen started avoiding him.”

The friend added that Purohit should have been a minister in the current government; instead, he was sidelined in party affairs “despite the fact that he played a big role in the growth of the BJP in South Mumbai”. Worse, he was made to campaign and ensure victory for his detractors by the BJP leadership.

Despite being out of favour, Purohit was active on multiple fronts in his community and was in touch with people through multiple forums such as the Rajasthani Railway Pravasi Sangh and the Mumbai Bhadekaru Ekta Sangh which espoused critical people-centric issues. The huge crowds that thronged his last journey on Sunday afternoon from the bylanes of his constituency were probably testament to that.