Why talk of a North Indian mayor touches a raw nerve in Mumbai politics

With Brihanmumbai Corporation (BMC) elections approaching, a statement by Maharashtra BJP vice president Kripa Shankar Singh on ensuring a North Indian mayor in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has reignited the city’s long-running Marathi versus non-Marathi fault line, handing the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) fresh ammunition to attack the BJP over migrant political assertion.

At a public event in Mira Bhayandar Wednesday, Kripa Shankar Singh was asked about the absence of North Indian mayors in municipal corporations across the state. Singh, a former Congress MLA who later joined the BJP, responded by saying, “We will elect so many corporators that a person from North India will become a mayor.”

A day later, Singh released a video seeking to clarify his remarks, accusing political opponents of lacking campaign issues. He said the BJP’s focus was on ensuring the Mahayuti alliance’s victory in municipal corporations across Maharashtra and asserted that the alliance wanted a “Hindu mayor”.

Singh’s initial comment, however, triggered a political backlash, with the Sena (UBT) and the MNS accusing the BJP of promoting outsider politics.

Sena (UBT) leader Sachin Ahir said, “The BJP leaders’ arrogance has increased. By making statements that only a Hindi-speaking person should become the mayor of Mumbai or nearby cities, they are insulting even non-Marathi speakers who love the Marathi language. Voters have taken note of this, and in this election, the public will not rest until this arrogance is brought down.”

The ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has sought to defuse the controversy. Cabinet Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant said Singh did not speak for the party on the issue. “I do not think Kripashankar Singh has been given the authority to present the BJP’s stand. He will not decide the policy on who becomes the mayor of Mumbai. That will be decided by the chief minister. Such controversies are deliberately being raised by the opposition on the eve of elections,” Samant said.

Why is political power for North Indians a sensitive issue in Mumbai?

Mumbai’s politics has long been shaped by the idea of who the city belongs to. After Independence, the Samyukta Maharashtra movement demanded a Marathi-speaking state with Mumbai as its capital. From this struggle emerged the belief that political control of the city should remain with its sons of the soil, the Marathi-speaking population.

This legacy continues to influence elections. As a result, any suggestion that North Indian communities should gain organised political power in Mumbai is viewed by some as weakening this original claim over the city.

The Shiv Sena rose to prominence in the late 1960s by mobilising Marathi youth, first against South Indian clerical workers and later against North Indian migrants, whom it accused of taking away jobs. Even today, calls for greater political representation for North Indians are often projected by rivals as a challenge to Marathi pride, regardless of changing electoral realities.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which once reflected Mumbai’s diversity, has steadily become more Marathi-dominated. In the 1970s, nearly 45 per cent of corporators were non-Marathi. By the 2017 BMC elections, that share had fallen to 33 per cent.

The 2017 civic polls were among the most closely fought in Mumbai’s history, following the breakup of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. While the Sena emerged as the single largest party with 84 seats, the BJP followed closely with 82, its best ever performance in the city. Significantly, 76 non-Marathi candidates won corporator seats, marking both the highest number and a rise in their share from 28 per cent in 2012 to 33 per cent in 2017.

This shift was mainly driven by the BJP’s growing support among non-Marathi and migrant voters, whose numbers in Mumbai have increased sharply. The Sena, meanwhile, retained its traditional Marathi base, which has not expanded at the same pace.

With the BJP in power at the Centre, the party has become more comfortable projecting itself as pro-migrant in Mumbai and has been more willing than in the past to promote non-Marathi leaders. This has given migrant communities greater political confidence and organisational support to seek representation, turning them into an increasingly important voting bloc.

While there is no recent data mapping the place of origin of every Mumbai resident, Census figures on mother tongue offer clear clues to the city’s changing social profile. The 2011 Census shows that the number of residents identifying Hindi as their mother tongue in Mumbai rose by over 40 per cent in a decade, from 25.82 lakh in 2001 to 35.98 lakh in 2011.

In contrast, the number of Marathi speakers in the city fell marginally by 2.64 per cent, from 45.23 lakh to 44.04 lakh over the same period.

Marathi speakers continue to form the single largest linguistic group in Mumbai, followed by Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati speakers. However, the data points to a clear trend. While the numbers of Marathi and Gujarati speakers have stagnated or declined in the city, Hindi speakers are the only major group to show a sharp increase.

This shift is not confined to Mumbai alone. Peripheral districts such as Thane, where Mira Bhayandar is located and where Kripa Shankar Singh made his remarks, and Raigad have seen an even sharper rise in Hindi-speaking populations. Census data shows that the number of Hindi speakers grew by over 80 per cent in Thane and nearly 87 per cent in Raigad between 2001 and 2011.

Hindi speakers show the fastest growth across the MMR, while the city records stagnation or decline in other major languages. Hindi growth is strongest in Raigad, followed by Thane.