BJP, two Senas use meat to curry favour with vote banks
Ambarish Mishra
Mumbai:
TNN
Parties Split Mumbai Political Terrain Along Community Lines
The “meat ban“ row has stirred the pot of vote bank politics, what with the BJP and Shiv Sena making dire at tempts to consolidate their community strongholds in Mumbai in the run-up to the 2017 BMC elections, politica experts said on Friday .
While the BJP grabbed the opportunity with both hands to woo the Gujarati-Jain-Rajas thani voters by asking the BMC to shut down the civic abattoirs for four days during the `Pary ushan Parva' of the Jain com munity , the Sena and its off shoot, the MNS, tried success fully in the case of the latter, to win over Marathi Mumbai kars, thus distributing the city's political terrain along community lines.
“Don't step into my kitch en,“ Sena president Uddhav Thackeray's one-liner which he hurled at Mumbai BJP pres ident Ashish Shelar at a func tion in Jogeshwari on Thurs day had the latter running for cover. Quick to realise that the party had an egg on its face be cause of its ill-thought mea ban crusade, Shelar, who, it is learnt, loves his chicken tikka urged the Sena to bring down curtains on the row. “The con troversy has reflected poorly on the party's leadership. We failed to handle the crisis with tact and political wisdom,“ ad mitted a senior Mumbai BJP functionary .
Many in the BJP are of the view that in the aftermath o the meat ban crusade, the party stands to lose a large chunk of Marathi votes. “Plus, the MNS will hereafter portray the BJP as a party of Jain builders and Gujarati traders,“ he rued, adding, “A section of Marathi voters will take it out on us in the 2017 civic elections.“
Although Shelar heads the Mumbai BJP , the party is seen to be under the thumbs of nonMarathi functionaries such as Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Raj Purohit. Purohit has said that he would ask for a similar meat ban by the BMC on Ganesha Chaturthi, Gudi Padwa, Dusse ra and Diwali. “The party leadership doesn't realise that we need to handle other Mumbaikars with velvet gloves due to Mumbai's cosmopolitan character,“ said the BJP leader.
Citing the Bandra assembly constituency as a test case, he said, “Last year, Ashish-ji (Shelar) won from Bandra where Muslims and Christians have a good voting percentage.However, the meat ban crusade has surely displeased members of the two communities and I have grave doubts if they would be with us in the 2017 civic polls.“
Now, Chhattisgarh too bans meat sale
Chhattisgarh joined Mumbai and Rajasthan in ordering a ban on sale of meat citing religious events. “Like every year, the urban administration department has issued directives to civic bodies to keep all slaughter houses and meat shops closed from September 10 to 17 for the Jain Paryushan Parv and Ganesh Chaturthi,“ said an official on Friday. However, late in the evening, the administration reduced the ban period to just two days. TNN
