Shiv Sena starts campaign to woo Gujarati community ahead of 2022 BMC polls

The Shiv Sena on Sunday began its campaign “Mumbai ma jalebi fafda, Uddhav Thackeray aapda”, wooing Gujarati voters ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections slated to be held in January-February 2022

The Shiv Sena on Sunday began its campaign “Mumbai ma jalebi fafda, Uddhav Thackeray aapda”, wooing Gujarati voters ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections slated to be held in January-February 2022.

The ruling Shiv Sena is eyeing the Gujarati vote bank in Mumbai ahead of the BMC election in 2022. The party organised an event at Andheri, on Sunday. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT)

The function, held at Andheri, was attended by 100 Gujarati community members and was used to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for giving the community step-motherly treatment. Traditionally, Gujaratis and Marwaris are BJP voters and are now playing a decisive role in Mumbai’s electoral politics.

Shiv Sena leader Hemraj Shah, the brain behind the campaign, said that it was time to give a chance to the Shiv Sena. “Early, we [Gujarati community] voted for the Congress and then the BJP, but both failed to give justice to the Gujarati community. The new Sena leadership under chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is a progressive one and is doing a lot of work for the people. We are asking for just one chance. The BJP’s steps like demonetisation and GST (goods and service tax) have broken the back of our businesses. We see the Sena as a hope to revive our business,” he said.

None of the major Shiv Sena leaders attended the function. Shah said that the program was not meant to be held on a large scale and therefore they had invited only 100 community members. He said that the large-scale event with key Sena leaders would be organised at a later stage.

The Sena also used the event to induct 10 industrialists and builders into the party, apart from scores of businessmen.

Builder Kalpesh Mehta, managing director, Pramukh Developers Private Limited, said that he joined the Sena as its government cut premiums in the real estate sector. “Uddhav Thackeray has done a good job to boost the realty sector as it was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Mehta. He said his party membership would provide him with a platform to interact with the government.

The BJP, however, denied giving any step-motherly treatment to the community. “I have been a BJP corporator six times, and the BJP even made me a deputy mayor. The community is solidly behind us,” said BJP leader Ram Barot, a prominent Gujarati who was the former Mumbai deputy mayor.

Traditionally, the Sena does not share a good rapport with the Gujarati community as it was seen as only representing the “Marathi Manoos”. However, the current leadership under Thackeray has been shedding this image to make it an all-inclusive outfit. Thackeray’s son Aaditya, a state minister, erected hoardings in Gujarati during his campaign in the 2019 Assembly polls, which he fought from the Worli constituency.