Modi effect? Shiv Sena accuses Gujaratis of using Mumbai like 'sex worker'

You’d be forgiven for thinking the Gujaratis, a 2-million strong population in Mumbai, are the new north Indian migrants, at least as far as the Shiv Sena and its colleagues are concerned. The Mumbai-based political party, which has for long espoused a chauvinistic sons-of-the-soil agenda, ran an editorial in Thursday’s edition of its mouthpiece Saamna demanding that Gujarati traders rally behind the Shiv Sena for the Maharashtra Assembly elections that will follow in October. According to a report in The Hindustan Time_s_ the editorial accused the Gujaratis and other non-Marathi businessmen who had made their fortunes in Mumbai of using the city like a “sex worker”. [caption id=“attachment_1488967” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray. PTI[/caption] The Hindustan Times report translated an excerpt from the Saamna editorial thus: “Will the Gujarati community stand behind us to realise the dream of hoisting the saffron flag atop Maharashtra’s Mantralaya? On this Maharashtra Day [state’s foundation day on May 1], the 11 crore citizens of Maharashtra need to pledge to ensure that the dream of the 105 martyrs does not go unrealised?” It was actually a throwback to a time when the north Indian migrant had not yet been discovered as a threat to the Marathi-speaking population’s access to jobs and opportunity. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the linguistic politics that was key to the Samyukta Maharashtra movement and ended with the division of Bombay into Maharashtra and Gujarat. The parochialism continued to form a central part of the Shiv Sena’s politics, starting with the anti-Gujarati and then transforming into an anti-“Madrasi” rant before finally settling on a cocktail of Hindutva and anti-“Bhaiya” or north Indian migrants. The Sena’s petulant editorial came just days after Nitesh Rane, son of former Shiv Sainik and now Maharashtra Cabinet minister Narayan Rane, attempted to once again ignite emotions against Gujaratis. Last week, the junior Rane, who established and runs a socio-political organisation called the Swabhimaan Sanghatana tweeted,  Then, about what kind of jobs Marathi-speaking Mumbaiites want now:

  Next, he went back to an issue the Maharashtrians have been particularly edgy about, the rise of Gujarati ownership of new real estate in areas once dominated by Maharashtrians. With large Gujarati-controlled housing societies keeping out non-vegetarian Maharashtrians, Rane and both Senas have in the past taken up cudgels for the Maharashtrians in this regard.

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Some more tweets from Rane that day:

  The Saamna editorial in some ways reflected that vague fear of growing Gujarati power in Maharashtra, only set to rise if Narendra Modi becomes prime minister. The vyaparis of Mumbai had united to try and elect a son of their soil to the highest chair in the country, it said, in some rather premature and poorly reasoned muscle-flexing four months ahead of the Assembly elections. From big business to small traders, from stocks to gold and increasingly in the tertiary sector too, the dominance of Gujaratis has grown rapidly, perhaps prompting the Sena to mull a revival of its Marathi manoos strategy for the elections. Only, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray – he is out of the country and did not vet the editorial, it was reported – thought the tone was too strident, the strategy to take on the supporters of their NDA ally in poor taste. The Gujarati support to the Sena, in fact, would be cricual for a good performance by the somewhat depleted Shiv Sena. Senior Sena leaders issued statements promptly, saying the Sena-BJP combine has vowed to rid the country of the Congress and that the dream would continue after Modi is made PM too: “We should show the same unity in ensuring Mumbai’s development is all the editorial was trying to convey,” Sena leader Subhash Desai said. But the damage is done, especially seen against the backdrop of the BJP keeping its options open for the October elections. The Gujaratis, famous for their commonsensical approach to business and their business-like approach to politics and everything else, will no doubt be keeping their cards close to their chest.