Fadnavis ‘guarantees’ that next Mumbai mayor will be a ‘Marathi Hindu’
Maharashtra CM asserts that Mahayuti will secure BMC post while slamming Opposition silence on AIMIM remarks on burqa-clad mayor ahead of civic polls
While claiming that the nation comes first for the BJP and it does not seek to divide Maharashtra voters into Marathi and non-Marathi speakers, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday (January 8) asserted in the same vein that a “Marathi Hindu” would be the next mayor of Mumbai.
The BJP leader was speaking at an event when he replied to a question. “I can vouch for the fact that a Mahayuti candidate will become the BMC mayor. It will be a Hindu. It will be a Marathi.” Moments before that, he mocked the Opposition for remaining silent on AIMIM leader Waris Pathan’s remark that a “burqa-clad practising Muslim” could become the Mumbai mayor.
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Fadnavis was quick to clarify, “If municipal elections are held in Chennai, people will naturally say the mayor should be Tamil. Similarly, in Mumbai, the mayor will be Marathi.” His explanation did not cover the “Hindu” part though.
Marathi vs non-Marathi
Recently, BJP leader Kripashankar Singh raised a storm by calling for the election of a “north Indian” and “Hindi-speaker” as the mayor of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation. Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s MNS quickly erupted into loud protest against the statement.
Fadnavis defended Singh too, saying that “North Indians are not outsiders”. Instead, he questioned the Opposition’s silence when Pathan remarked about a “burqa-clad” Mumbai mayor. “That is why I said the mayor will be a Hindu Marathi,” Fadnavis said.
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Asserting that the BJP’s voter base includes both Marathis and non-Marathis, Fadnavis said, “Everyone votes for us. Even if both brothers (cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray) come together, our vote share will not decline,” he added, claiming credit for the reunion in the family for the upcoming elections.
Civic polls in Maharashtra, including the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, are scheduled on January 15.