On Thursday, the Nationalist Congress Party released its manifesto for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly election, opening with the unique promise to fight all attempts to separate Mumbai city from the rest of the state.
After its split with the Congress on September 25, the NCP is contesting the October 15 election by itself, fielding candidates from 283 out of 288 constituencies in the state. Its manifesto, for the most part, dwells on generalities – pensions for small farmers, crop insurance, concrete roads for all villages and expanded budgets for areas with low human-development indices.
Jumping on the technology bandwagon, it also promises “smart digital classrooms” for every school in Maharashtra and free wi-fi in every college.
Some other promises from the manifesto were more interesting.
Ensuring a united Maharashtra: This is the very first promise in the document, and by way of explanation, it states:
“Maharashtra has economically compensated Gujarat to keep Mumbai in Maharashtra; this monetary aid was used to develop Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. Therefore no machinations to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra will be tolerated and will be fought against with all might.”
The reference, according to NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik, is to the BJP government at the centre moving three departments of the Reserve Bank of India from Mumbai to Delhi in July. In September, Congress leader Narayan Rane accused the Narendra Modi-led government of trying to dilute Mumbai’s status as the financial capital of the country by moving the RBI away.
The NCP takes this a step further. “Mumbai is integral to Maharashtra as a financial centre, so by diluting this status, the BJP wants to take the city away from the state,” said Malik.
More monorails: The manifesto promises monorail services in Aurangabad, Nashik and Nagpur, a decision taken after “considering the success and utility of the monorail in Mumbai”. In reality, after a surge of initial excitement when the Mumbai monorail opened in February, the useage has been very low.
“It does take some time for people to realise the use of new transport facilities,” said Pankaj Bhujbal, a candidate from Nashik and the son of senior NCP leader Chagan Bhujbal. “In Nashik, a monorail will be very useful to travel from one end of the city to the other.”
Airports in every district: According to the manifesto, all districts in the state would have runways that can sustain 24-hour air traffic. “This will benefit the transfer of perishable goods from place to place,” said Bhujbal.
Memorials and statues: In February, the Maharashtra cabinet led by the erstwhile Congress-NCP alliance had approved a proposal to allocate Rs 100 crore to build a 190-metre high statue of Maratha king Shivaji in the Arabian sea, off the south Mumbai coast. The project has not yet received environment clearance, but the NCP manifesto promises to complete the memorial statue, along with the proposed memorial for Babasaheb Ambedkar in Mumbai and three other statues in the state.
“The Shivaji statue was our idea,” said Nawab Malik. “We will complete it if we come to power, provided we get the environment clearance.”
After its split with the Congress on September 25, the NCP is contesting the October 15 election by itself, fielding candidates from 283 out of 288 constituencies in the state. Its manifesto, for the most part, dwells on generalities – pensions for small farmers, crop insurance, concrete roads for all villages and expanded budgets for areas with low human-development indices.
Jumping on the technology bandwagon, it also promises “smart digital classrooms” for every school in Maharashtra and free wi-fi in every college.
Some other promises from the manifesto were more interesting.
Ensuring a united Maharashtra: This is the very first promise in the document, and by way of explanation, it states:
“Maharashtra has economically compensated Gujarat to keep Mumbai in Maharashtra; this monetary aid was used to develop Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. Therefore no machinations to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra will be tolerated and will be fought against with all might.”
The reference, according to NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik, is to the BJP government at the centre moving three departments of the Reserve Bank of India from Mumbai to Delhi in July. In September, Congress leader Narayan Rane accused the Narendra Modi-led government of trying to dilute Mumbai’s status as the financial capital of the country by moving the RBI away.
The NCP takes this a step further. “Mumbai is integral to Maharashtra as a financial centre, so by diluting this status, the BJP wants to take the city away from the state,” said Malik.
More monorails: The manifesto promises monorail services in Aurangabad, Nashik and Nagpur, a decision taken after “considering the success and utility of the monorail in Mumbai”. In reality, after a surge of initial excitement when the Mumbai monorail opened in February, the useage has been very low.
“It does take some time for people to realise the use of new transport facilities,” said Pankaj Bhujbal, a candidate from Nashik and the son of senior NCP leader Chagan Bhujbal. “In Nashik, a monorail will be very useful to travel from one end of the city to the other.”
Airports in every district: According to the manifesto, all districts in the state would have runways that can sustain 24-hour air traffic. “This will benefit the transfer of perishable goods from place to place,” said Bhujbal.
Memorials and statues: In February, the Maharashtra cabinet led by the erstwhile Congress-NCP alliance had approved a proposal to allocate Rs 100 crore to build a 190-metre high statue of Maratha king Shivaji in the Arabian sea, off the south Mumbai coast. The project has not yet received environment clearance, but the NCP manifesto promises to complete the memorial statue, along with the proposed memorial for Babasaheb Ambedkar in Mumbai and three other statues in the state.
“The Shivaji statue was our idea,” said Nawab Malik. “We will complete it if we come to power, provided we get the environment clearance.”
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