“MODI IS THE ONLY ISSUE IN THIS ELECTION”
On the campaign trail in the Mumbai North constituency from where he is fighting the Lok Sabha election, Union Minister Piyush Goyal spoke to Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa and Senior Associate Editor Dhaval S. Kulkarni on a range of issues. Edite
On contesting
It’s an exhilarating experience. It gives tremendous opportunity to connect with the local people, a sense of belonging and a feet-on-the-ground feeling. I will ever be grateful to PM Narendra Modi for the opportunity.
On slum development in his constituency
In ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, the first chapter is ‘Garib Parivar Jan’ where we have talked of redevelopment of slums. We will give them a house in the same place, in Uttar Mumbai. With the PM’s blessings, I will make sure this is the first area in which everybody gets a home and has a good quality of life.
On the possible outcome of the Mahayuddh in Maharashtra
Both Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are trying to create a story of sympathy for themselves, but people have recognised that both only want their children to come to power. Both have failed to do work for the state. That is why you see that all their MLAs and their parties have gone with either Eknath Shinde if they are with the Shiv Sena or with Ajit Pawar if they belong to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
On the BJP engineering splits
We have not engineered any splits. All the Sena MLAs know that they won the assembly election because of Mr Modi’s leadership and [Devendra]
Fadnavis as CM. It is Uddhav who treacherously backstabbed Fadnavis and Mr Modi. We had announced Fadnavis as the next CM with Uddhav sitting on the stage. It is a figment of his imagination and greed for power to think otherwise. He stands totally exposed and people have lost all faith in Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. That’s why the whole of Shiv Sena came and joined hands with us as did the NCP, apart from Raj Thackeray. They all recognise that Modi is good for the country.
On the main issue this election
It is Modi all the way—there is no other issue. The biggest issue is trust and when we say ‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’, it comes out of the fact that whatever he says, he delivers. I never thought in my lifetime—I have been in politics for 40 years—that Article 370 would go out from the Constitution. On the Ram Mandir, senior VHP leaders used to say ‘prabhu ki ichha hai, banega’, but Modi made it happen. I have gone through the 2014 and 2019 manifestos...there is action on every single point. He is a man of conviction, not false promises, that’s what the people like. The women and young are completely behind Modi. That is going to be the swing factor which will take us past 400 seats.
On the Congress comment on redistribution of wealth
This is a dangerous trend. It is going back to the fossil age. We all remember how the estate tax was 85 per cent. The Congress is talking of redistribution of wealth by taking it from the people, we are talking of raising the incomes of the whole country and taking everybody along the way.
On the Opposition’s demand for caste reservation
The Opposition seems very keen on Muslim reservations. The Constitution just doesn’t allow that. They want to foist this unconstitutional act as a part of their appeasement policy. And they want to take away the reservation from the SC, ST and OBC which the BJP and NDA will never allow.
On calling Muslims ‘infiltrators’
The CAA doesn’t take away the citizenship from any Indian. Those communities who are in a minority in our neighbouring countries, like Jains, Buddhists, Hindus, are those that we are giving citizenship to, and not those who belong to the majority communities in Islamist countries. Indian Muslims are a part of us and will remain so.
On the Muslim vote
Never before have they come out in such numbers for our rallies. I am amazed at the response. They know that Modi is doing things for all of them and not asking what their language, caste or religion is. ■
on how connectivity to his constituency would vastly improve once the Rs 6,500 crore tunnel linking Mumbai with Thane comes up, passing under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and cutting the commute time to Marine Drive by more than an hour. He also briefs residents about the medical facilities he would bring, with the construction of a 1,000-bed hospital by a charitable trust so that they don’t have to travel to Central Mumbai for emergencies. Later, addressing slum dwellers, Goyal told them he will ensure that each of them gets pucca houses in the same area as part of the redevelopment plan under the Modi Ki Guarantee schemes. He also promised that drainage works would be complete.
Though Mumbai North has been the BJP’s citadel for over three decades, Goyal will have to battle the tag of being an “outsider candidate” and the linguistic divide between Marathi speakers and non-Maharashtrians as he takes on his challenger—Bhushan Patil of the Congress. Unlike the incumbent two-term MP Gopal Shetty who has been dropped, Goyal lacks the local connect with workers and voters. A former corporator and Mumbai deputy mayor before he was elected the MLA from Borivali, Shetty is known among his supporters as a “garden samrat” for developing around 10 gardens across the constituency. He is also known for his brand of “instant justice” and has a pan-community and pan-linguistic appeal given his fluency in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and Kannada.
The BJP has dropped Shetty to nominate Goyal in what is seen as one of the safest seats for the party across India.
BJP insiders say Shetty was upset at being ousted from the constituency he had nurtured, but that hasn’t stopped him from extending Goyal unconditional support; he is a constant companion on his election rath. Goyal’s constituency also has a diverse social spread—from the tribal padas or hamlets in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai’s largest green lung, to the koliwadas or fishing villages at Gorai and Bhati, gleaming glass-chrome IT hubs in Malad, and slums in Kurar. “Our victory is certain,” Atul Bhatkhalkar, the BJP MLA from Kandivali East, says. “The only issue is people want Modi as the prime minister.” BJP leader Kishor Joshi says Mumbai North stood to benefit if it elected a Union minister to the Lok Sabha. “He will use his influence as a senior leader to solve several issues and get new projects into the constituency,” he points out.
However, BJP leaders concede that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is likely to give the battle a Marathi vs nonMarathi colour as the Congress nominee Patil is a Maharashtrian and belongs to the Aagri community, regarded as among Mumbai’s original settlers, along with groups like Kolis and Bhandaris. “The only saving grace for us is that the Congress does not have an image as a proMarathi party,” says a BJP functionary. However, Aslam Shaikh, a former minister and the Congress MLA from Malad West, claims their chances are bright and points to how his party won the seat in 2004 and 2009. Now, with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in alliance with the Congress as part of the larger MVA, Patil is expected to get a chunk of the Marathi vote.
Goyal has also found himself in the thick of several controversies, especially the one after students at the Thakur College of Science and Commerce in Kandivali, which is part of his Lok Sabha constituency, were allegedly forced to attend the speech of his son Dhruv Goyal in March. The IDs of the students were reportedly confiscated to ensure they were present when he spoke. In April, Neha Purav, a journalist with a vernacular daily, who had reported on Goyal’s apparent discomfort with the smell of fish (he is said to have covered his nose with a handkerchief while campaigning in the gaothans or village settlements in his constituency), filed a complaint with the police after unknown individuals allegedly threatened her. None of these controversies has dented Goyal’s confidence of not only winning North Mumbai handsomely but also the BJP and its allies getting more than the 41 seats the NDA won in 2019. His reason? “It is Modi all the way—there is no other issue. The biggest issue is trust and when we say ‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’, it comes out of the fact that whatever he says, he delivers.” Goyal may have grown up in South Mumbai but he is certainly going north in the city in 2024. ■
UNLIKE SITTING MP GOPAL SHETTY WHO HAS BEEN DROPPED, GOYAL HAS TO BATTLE THE TAG OF BEING AN ‘OUTSIDER’ WHILE WOOING THE VOTERS