Maximum City, maximum votes: With Yogi govt office, BJP eyes UPites in Mumbai

Though the two developments are not directly linked, the BJP sees them as part of a bigger political arc. A BJP leader said the UP government office could help limit the damage done by its MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh with his comments on Thackeray and also help the party consolidate UP migrant votes in Mumbai. Civic polls in the city are scheduled to be held in the coming months.

The BJP is also stepping up its outreach to the broader north Indian community in Mumbai, starting with a corner meeting in Goregaon on May 15. This is the first BMC election the BJP is contesting after the Shiv Sena parted ways with it as an ally and the saffron party is no more restrained by its former ally’s Marathi Manoos or son-of-the-soil agenda. Comprising around 40 lakh of Mumbai’s estimated 1.5 crore population, north Indians play a decisive role in its politics. They are employed across the board in the financial Capital, from service sectors to jobs requiring manual labour. Of the 227 wards in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), north Indians are believed to be in a majority in 50 and have a significant presence in 40-45 wards more.

For the BJP, Raj Thackeray is key to unseating the Sena from the BMC. In recent months, BJP leaders in Maharashtra have been spotted with the MNS chief on various occasions, but the party has refused to comment on the possibility of an alliance. A saffron party leader in Maharashtra even said that the party would “do all the hand-holding to ensure MNS makes deep inroads into Shiv Sena bases”.

But Kaiserganj parliamentarian Brij Bhushan Singh’s recent warning to Thackeray that he will not be allowed to enter Ayodhya next month till he tenders a public apology “for humiliating north Indians” indicates the baggage the MNS chief carries. The BJP believes that setting up the office can signal that Thackeray’s anti-north rhetoric of the past has been put behind.

“After Uddhav Thackeray’s exit from the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) and the formation of the (Maha Vikas Aghadi) government, Raj Thackeray could be BJP’s answer to Uddhav. But since he could face the allegation of humiliation of north Indians in the past, just like Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is seeking an apology from him, opening of the government’s new office to help UP’s people can control the damage.”

A BJP functionary pointed out that during the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, a helpline was set up at the Lucknow residence of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya who was then the party’s co-in-charge for the polls. The helpline was established to address the problems of the family members and relatives of people from UP who had migrated to Maharashtra.

Asked what the party would gain politically from the UP government office in Mumbai, Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay said every step “should not be seen politically” because some work is done for people’s convenience. His UP counterpart Rakesh Tripathi said the UP government had helped migrants from the state during the Covid-19 pandemic and was now making a permanent arrangement to help people in Mumbai. Tripathi said people from UP had strength in numbers and could be a deciding factor in various Assembly constituencies.

Another BJP leader said, “UP’s initiative will give strength to BJP in Maharashtra. BJP can play a card with that office in future to woo voters. With the new office, the BJP government can convince migrants that it is concerned for their social security in Maharashtra and their families living in UP. The Adityanath government had upset Shiv Sena in 2020 by announcing it was establishing the country’s biggest film city in Gautam Buddh Nagar. CM Adityanath himself had reached out to Bollywood personalities in this regard.”