In Vile Parle, BJP mixes national with local to retain ‘safe’ seat

The Vile Parle Assembly constituency, which houses the office of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is being considered a safe seat by the Bharatiya Janata Party

The Vile Parle Assembly constituency, which houses the office of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is being considered a safe seat by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the constituency, which has a mixed bag of Marathi and Gujarati-speaking voters, the BJP and RSS workers are raking up the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir and ‘giving a befitting reply to Pakistan’, along with local issues. The Congress, on the other hand, is questioning how talking about Kashmir and Pakistan will solve the local problems.

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The fight here is majorly between sitting BJP MLA Parag Alavani and Congress’s Jayanti Siroya, though the MNS and VBA, too, have fielded candidates. The seat had always been between the Shiv Sena and Congress till Alavani managed to win it in 2014. BJP workers have been conducting padyatras and holding community meetings ahead of the polls. A BJP leader from Vile Parle said, “We’re banking on both local issues and national issues in Vile Parle. We have a team of RSS workers who are going door to door to spread the achievements of the party on a national level.”

Last week, the BJP had organised a public meeting wherein Alavani, along with Union minister Smriti Irani, hit out at the Congress-NCP over Article 370. At the meeting, Alavani had said, “I’ve been looking after every issue of my constituency, be it a civic one or be it related to the state. At the national level, our government has given a strong message to Pakistan.” Irani had said, “Just because they [Congress] wanted to oppose the PM, they opposed the abolition of Article 370... Abolishing Article 370 was a service to the nation.”

Krishna Hegde, a BJP leader from Vile Parle has, meanwhile, termed the seat the “safest” seat in the state. Hegde, who joined the BJP from Congress in 2017, said, “There is no competition to us in Vile Parle. The Congress or MNS candidates don’t have much popularity. The rehabilitation of slum-dwellers and redevelopment of societies near the airport is being looked into. It’s just a matter of time that these things turn into reality.”

Sitting candidate Alavani told HT that he was the corporator before becoming an MLA, and has worked on all fronts to get favourable policy for Vile Parle residents. “My constituency is also going to get six Metro stations that will take people to western, eastern, north and south Mumbai. I am sure of victory this time.”

The constituency starts from Irla on the west end and includes majority of Vile Parle West, Vile Parle East and few areas including Chakala and Andheri-Kurla Road. It has 2.61 lakh voters. The major issues here are increasing traffic snarls, hawkers near Vile Parle station, rehabilitation of slum-dwellers living near the airport and revamp of several buildings in the airport funnel zone. Vile Parle being an educational hub with more than five colleges, attracts daily traffic and floating population. Around 50,000 people travel to the airport daily here.

Shardul Patil, a Vile Parle (East) resident, said the redevelopment of his ground-plus-three-storey building near the airport has been stuck for years. “We’re hopeful that whichever government comes, these issues will be solved on priority. There are hundreds of buildings that are facing this issue.” Patil said the increased traffic is a major problem owing to the presence of the airport, with the western express highway clogged always. “To go from east to west, it takes 25 minutes at times. On the western side, the traffic has slowed down due to the narrow SV Road,” he said.