Premier Marathi library in Mumbai grapples with multiple problems

Besides the shoddy leaky premises, depletion of members, political interference, paucity of funds, underpaid staff and infighting have resulted in the premier Marathi library losing out the spotlight

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has been elected as the president of Mumbai Marathi Granth Sangrahalaya (MMGS), a 123-year-old library which he has headed for 28 years after being elected unopposed every time.

One of the major problems for library is the pittance funding it receives from the Mumbai civic body – the richest civic corporation in India – and well as the state government. (HT File)

The former Union minister’s first election for a post in Mumbai’s largest library had seen controversy over the poll process and allegations that the elected body was eyeing the land parcel that the library has across the city.

Today, the library continues to grapple with multiple issues. Besides the shoddy leaky premises, depletion of members, political interference, paucity of funds, underpaid staff and the infighting among members have resulted in one of India’s premier libraries losing out the spotlight.

The recent high-profile election, in which Maratha strongman Pawar won by an overwhelming majority, has once again helped in reviving hope for the library which is in a bad shape.

Pawar’s opponent in the election, Dhananjay Shinde, who is the general secretary of the Maharashtra Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contented that the poll was virtually rigged by Pawar and his team to exploit the land on which these libraries stand, especially its Naigaon headquarters that is valued to be around ₹4,000 crore. “The entire focus of Pawar’s team is to redevelop this prime land and hand it over to the builders. This is a prime land in Dadar and this election was manipulated to ensure that opponents of the redevelopment project are eased out. One of India’s prime libraries, which was frequented by scholars in the past, is today in its worst phase as they [members] are just concerned about its redevelopment,” said Shinde.

Dr Mungekar responded that redevelopment was inevitable. “Our entire premises is in a bad shape and cannot take repairs anymore. We will need to redevelop it,” he said and accused Shinde and his team of spoiling the whole atmosphere of the library by propagating the revamp angle.

“We don’t even have a rough sketch of redevelopment and have not even discussed it with anyone. But our opponents have already accused us of selling the land. As per our system, members from each branch elect their representatives and these representatives form an electoral college. They elect the presidents and vice-presidents. This was precisely what we did, and even the charity commission (the government authority of all non-government bodies that are registered with it) dismissed their complaints and we were elected by an overwhelming majority,” said Dr Mungekar.

Real estate experts point that the Naigaon branch is sitting on a “goldmine” of realty development. “This place is in Mumbai’s centre and commands more than ₹35,000- ₹40,000 per square feet rate. A 2-BHK (bedroom, hall and kitchen) will command a price of ₹3.50- ₹4 crore onwards, while a 3-BHK will be priced from ₹6 crore onwards,” said real estate expert Naresh Kewlani, chief executive officer (CEO), Creative Realtors, which deals in real estate in the Island city.

Pawar’s opponents contend that his tenure as MMGS president for the past 28 years has been a colossal failure as the library has lost its former glory.

“Half of our branches have closed down, and despite having such a large Marathi population, our membership is merely 8,642. MMGS owns Sharda Cinema, which has been shut. Many multiplexes and Marathi film personalities are ready to run it, but our administrators are not ready to give it to them. This place would have served as a good platform for our drama and literary events,” said Right to Information (RTI) activist Anil Galgali.

Sharda Cinema, which was once a hub of Marathi cinema frequented by actors such as Sachin Pilgaonkar, Ashok Saraf and Dada Kondke, has been closed since 2019, after MMGS did not extend the lease of the contractor running it.

Dr Mungekar puts the onus on the closure of libraries to social factors which has impacted the city as the whole. “The closure of the textile mills was a death blow to the Marathi culture as many migrated out of Mumbai in large numbers. This affected all spheres of the city, including our library,” said Dr Mungekar. “As far as Sharda Cinema is concerned, we are not leasing as we plan to redevelop this land and it will be unfair to the new tenants as they will have to move out when this happens,” he added.

MMGS also has high profile trustees, such as Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena parliamentarians Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai and well-known political analyst Pratap Asbe.

One of the major problems for MMGS is the pittance funding it receives from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) – the richest civic corporation in India – and well as the state government. In 2019-20, it only received ₹19.68 lakh from BMC and ₹34.00 lakh from the state. It has to cover the salaries of its 101 employees as well maintenance of the premises.

The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) said this shows the hypocrisy of the Shiv Sena-NCP over the Marathi language issue. “The Shiv Sena has been ruling BMC for decades and claims to uphold the Marathi cause. However, they turn a blind eye when it comes to Marathi institutions and the library is the best example, as it’s rotting due to paucity of funds. Pawar has been in power in the state for decades and has still not able to secure a decent funding for the institution he headed. All employees of MMGS are Maharashtrians and they are being unfairly exploited by the management,” said MNS leader Rita Gupta.

Despite being a former Rajya Sabha member from the Congress, Dr Mungekar blames the state government for MMGS’ neglect over the years. “The state government just neglected our institution over the years and reduced it to a sorry state. Even we as administrators share a collective blame for such state of affairs. It is unfair to just blame Pawar for all the failures, as it is collective responsibility,” he added.

However, he said that this has always been the case with all public trusts. “I agree that staff salaries are less but then they were lesser than this also. In 2017, when I took over, I increased it to the current level. This is, however, a problem with all public trusts,” he added.

MMGS, one of the reputed and well known libraries, was founded in 1898. It has a treasure trove with more than 645,569 Marathi books, some of them rare and over 200 years old. The library was used by well-known luminaries such as Lokmanya Tilak, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and well-known Marathi scholars. Some of the rare books include ‘Geeta Rahasya’ written by Tilak from the jail in Mandalay, Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar’s essays, ‘Mao Che Laskari Avahan’ on the 1962 Indo-China War and a book named ‘Maharana Pratap Ani Tyache Purvaj’. It has books written by VV Shirwadkar, Vinda Karandikar, Krishnaji Keshav Damle and Shripad Krushna Kolhatkar.

However, over the years, the membership has dwindled to about 8,642 from 11,787 in 2014. There were initially 44 branches, which has now come down to 29. Of these 29 too, only 21 are actively working.

Dhananjay Shinde, who has been a member of the library since the 1990s, said, “My aim is to bring back the glory of this centre. The current management is not doing anything and hence, I ran for the elections, even though I knew that I did not stand a chance against Pawar. They have failed miserably to attract the new generation and modernise the library. This place has the potential to become the cultural centre of Marathi literature.”

Ganesh N Devy, who is well-known Indian literary critic and a cultural activist, outlined three points with reference to MMGS.

“The use of books has reduced across the world and this is not a solitary position in Mumbai. But at the same time, MMGS management should update itself. They need to connect with libraries across the world so that long-distance lending is facilitated,” said Devy, who founded the Adivasi Academy.

He said the strength of MMGS is its Marathi connection. “Maharashtrians should come forward to salvage MMGS, which would empower the Marathi language,” he said.