Click to play videoMumbai: The Mumbaikar was tested once again on Friday in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections and he came out with what many believe is a stunning result.
The results are out in Maharashtra and the Shiv Sena has staged a comeback of sorts in the civic polls. The party, along with the BJP, has emerged as the clear single largest combine and will perhaps get the next mayor.
In the battle of the Thackareys, Uddhav Thackarey has got one better over his cousin Raj Thackarey. Narayan Rane and Raj Thackarey were considered the giant killers of this election and some expected them to ensure the end of the Shiv Sena, but the Tiger has roared again and the Sena-BJP combine has closed in on a majority.
The third thing that has emerged out of the election results are that the Congress and NCP are their own worst enemies, as NCP has done severe damage to the Congress in Pune and Nagpur.
However amidst this big battle for the richest municipal body in the country, what is the average Mumbaikar left with?
The question that was raised on Face The Nation was: Is the Mumbaikar the biggest loser in the political battle for the city?
On the panel to try and answer the question were Shiv Sena Spokesperson, Manohar Joshi; Finance & Planning Minister , Maharashtra & Guardian Minister, Mumbai City, Jayant Patil; actor and activist Rahul Bose; and Ad-man and Director Why Not Communication, Bharat Dabholkar.
Post-polls, will anything change for the average Mumbaikar?
The Shiv Sena-BJP combine has already been in power now for a decade and are set to rule the city for another five years. So will the Mumbaikars - who were in some sense expecting a change, who have been troubled by bomb blasts and flooding - see a change after this election result?
To this Manohar Joshi said, "I am sure that there will be a change now. The Shiv Sena was the first party to start the policy of giving alternate accommodation to those who stay in slums. Everything we were doing and are doing is for the upliftment of the poor people in the city."
But does the average Mumbaikar want specific things? Or is it just a case of old wine in an old bottle yet again with the same corporators coming back to power?
Rahul Bose answered the question saying, "I think if you don't demand something from your corporator he or she is not going to do anything. This has been the psyche is Mumbai and we - the average citizens - have been the biggest losers for decades. But this time, all of us want accountability for issues that have been plaguing us for so many years - roads, water, garbage, electricity, hospitals."
But only 40-45 per cent of the people of Mumbai came out to vote despite efforts to educate the citizens. So how are these citizens - out of which 55 per cent did not even bother to come and vote demand accountability from the corporators?
However, Bharat Dabholkar felt that the Mumbaikar will not put any pressure on the city corporators. He said, "I don't think the Mumbaikar will be the loser but I think that the Mumbaikar should be the loser because after a huge thing such as the bomb blasts and the deluge that happened, if only 45 per cent people come out and vote, it's pathetic. We don't deserve any better if we cannot come out and vote in bigger numbers. I would have thought that at least 75 per cent of the population would come to vote."
He said that the citizens of Mumbai deserved the politicians that they get and if things don't improve it is the citizens who are to be blamed.
Rahul Bose added, "How many times are people to be told that 10 per cent of the seats are decided with just about 200 votes. Their vote counts the most, but they do not understand this."
State government versus the BMC
One argument that is always put across is that Mumbai contributes Rs 70,000 crore to the National Exchequer but gets nothing in return. Is this a fair argument? At the end of the day, will the state government do anything for the municipality for the state government will be an NCP-Congress government and the BMC will be a Shiv Sena-BJP combine.
To this Jayant Patil said, "I don't think that will make any difference because there are programmes set. The Congress and NCP government has already set the ball rolling for the development of the city."
Manohar Joshi added that he agreed with the fact that Mumbai contributed so much and did not get a farthing in return and then the Municipal Corporation was expected to do so much for the city.
However, others countered that there was enough money with the corporators to build roads and the like. But come the monsoon season, and it's almost 100 per cent likely that the roads would be in the same state as they have been for the past two years for the corporators only want to make a quick buck and were half the time concerned with non-issues like whether the city should be called Mumbai or Bombay.
Where does Mumbai go from here? Can the city avoid the deluge that it was under two years ago? Is the Mumbaikar really ready to fight back?
There is now a feeling setting in that there are too many authorities in Mumbai. There is BMRDA, there is MMRDA, there is the municipality, there is the state government, there is a collector - but one thing that everyone forgets is that Mumbai needs a strong mayor, someone like Rudy Guliani.
Manohar Joshi said that he agreed with the fact that Mumbai needed a powerful mayor who was really in control. He said that when he was the chief minister, he had brought the mayor into the centre of things and given him powers. So will it help matters if Mumbai is separated from the rest of Maharashtra?
Should Mumbai snap ties with Maharashtra?
Manohar Joshi completely disagreed with this saying that Mumbai must remain with Maharashtra and the feeling that Mumbai does not get its due is not right and its completely incorrect to think like this.
"It is completely unacceptable and we cannot be a city-state like Delhi is," he said.
Jayant Patil agreed with him saying that this was something impossible and therefore one must not even talk about it. "We will not tolerate anything like this ever," he added.
But the question was that many politicians - including Jayant Patil - have rural votebanks and therefore Mumbai as a votebank did not really matter. Ultimately there are only 36 seats that come from Mumbai and majority of the seats come from the rest of Maharashtra.
Jayant Patil said that this was not true and Mumbai was a priority for all corporators and political parties. Ultimately the citizens of the city also pay taxes and therefore it was just a question of how the city is governed. "It is the capital of the state of Maharashtra and is a priority for us," he said.
Rahul Bose agreed to this saying that the separation of Mumbai from Maharashtra was not going to help any issues at hand. "The issues that cropped up after 24/7 were the issues that had been in the loop for the past 30 years. It was a case of sheer negligence. It was nothing that had happened on that day itself.
Bharat Dhabolkar too agreed though he said that things worked better for Mumbai when BJP-Shiv Sena were in power for they were from Mumbai and therefore more developmental work happened then.
What is the one thing that must change in Mumbai?
What is the one thing that must change in Mumbai for the city to recover its lost glory? What can be done in the short term to change the face of the city? What can be done to make Mumbai a better place to live in?
To this, Jayant Patil said, "First of all we need to understand and decide that Mumbai is the financial hub of the country. Then we should start working in that direction. I think this is one way to get about a qualitative change in Mumbai. The city has to be in comparison with other financial centres of the world like London and New York. This is the one concept based on which the city can develop further."
Manohar Joshi said, "The one thing which I want to see is that the influx in Mumbai must stop. The people must agree to this. If the citizens want water, they want good roads, theinflux must be stopped. Everyday 300 families come into the city to reside. How will we give everything to everyone if people keep pouring into the city?"
"The people who come to stay here must have a house already where they can reside. They cannot be allowed to come in and start constructing homes. We will regularise the slums like we once did and contained the influx into the city," he added.
Bharat Dabholkar said that if what Manohar Joshi said was workable, then he 100 per cent agreed with the sentiment.
"No matter how much you build the infrastructure, if more and more people keep coming in, then how will you give them every single thing they want?" he asked. "If you are looking at the future, then this influx has to be somehow regulated."
Rahul Bose however said that the only thing he wanted changed in the city was to have less corrupt politicians and corporators who will genuinely spend the money given to them for the betterment of the people.
Mumbai is a city that has always welcomed people, but it has snow become a city which is becoming increasingly unmanageable. It is now time for someone to take charge in Mumbai.
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