With the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll round the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Devendra Fadnavis is playing the ‘Marathi manoos’ (Marathi sons-of-soil) card to break the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction’s dominance over Mumbai’s Marathi vote-bank and wrest the BMC from the Thackeray clan’s control.
Last week, Mr. Fadnavis, kicked of the BJP’s campaign for the BMC by accusing the Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackeray of being responsible for the ‘displacement’ of the indigenous Marathi populace.
“Today, it is because of you [Uddhav Thackeray] that the Marathi populace is forced to move beyond Vasai-Virar in search of houses…Despite having thousands of crores of rupees as the BMC’s budget, you could not resolve the problem of affordable housing for the Marathi manoos,” claimed Mr. Fadnavis, addressing a rally of BJP workers.
