BJP aims to win over Marathi manoos through festivals

MUMBAI: On Friday evening, chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis joined Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray at a Diwali event organised by the MNS at Shivaji Park in Dadar. This was the first time that the three leaders, who are competing to counter the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), came together on one stage after Shinde and Fadnavis toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in June.

The BJP, which is going all out to capture the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from the Shiv Sena, has been using festivals like dahi handi, Ganesh utsav, Navratri and now Diwali to reach out to the Marathi manoos, who forms the core of the Shiv Sena’s support base. The BJP, which is still seen as a party of non-Maharashtrians and mercantile interests, hopes to shed this tag and get more Marathi votes.

Organising such festivals and providing generous sponsorships to local mandals helps political parties make inroads into the working class, which dominates these groups and serves as foot soldiers for political parties. The BJP is focusing on Marathi-dominated pockets like Worli and Lalbag.

Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said his party celebrated Diwali Pahat, the traditional Marathi early-morning musical programme, at 233 locations across the city from October 19 onwards. “We are celebrating till October 24 at prime Marathi locations in Mumbai,” he said.

This year, the BJP organised Garba and Bhondala at 49 places and sponsored celebrations at 300 places, apart from sponsoring 320 dahi handi celebrations and hundreds of Ganesh pandals. “Our presence in Marathi-dominated areas during these festivities played a big role in our jump from 31 seats in 2012 to 82 seats in 2017,” said a leader. “Based on that, we celebrated Marathi festivals on a much larger scale this year. This will help us in the forthcoming BMC polls.”

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) legislator Sunil Shinde questioned why the BJP was attempting to reach out to the Marathi speakers only before the elections.