Why Nashik was epicentre of MNS campaign

A traditional stronghold of the Shiv Sena, Nashik, along with Pune, was under the charge of Raj before he walked out of the party and formed the MNS two years ago.

Nashik, with its traditional face as a pilgrimage centre changing into one of an industrial city, has a population of 16 lakh. The north Indian migrants may be anywhere between 40,000 and 80,000, making the locals feel insecure.

Having chipped away at the Sena’s base and even won 12 seats in the municipal corporation elections last year — the highest for the MNS in any one city — the migrant issue has come in very handy to outdo the Sena on its ‘sons of the soil’ agenda, MNS leaders told the Sunday Express.

“This will help us mobilise Sena’s vote base behind us,” a leader said in private, less than two years before Maharashtra goes to the polls.

Trade union leaders say that the MNS and other parties were using unemployed youth as factory owners were recruiting contract labourers.

The migrants are willing to work at lower wages, which also helps break the might of organised trade unions, said Dr. D L Karad, CITU’s Nashik-based state general secretary.

“These unemployed youth are being spoilt by political parties for their own selfish ends”, he said.

Nashik and Pune are considered two centres where the MNS is expected to field strong candidates for the assembly and put up a good fight. And former Mayor Vasant Gite, who defected from Sena to join MNS, is expected to be the party candidate. For the record, Gite denies the MNS had any role in Nashik violence that caused two deaths.

“The Sena is jittery at our spread. But we are not competing with them. We are competing with the Congress,” he said.

In 1995, before the Sena-BJP alliance came to power in Maharashtra, the Sena had organised a state convention in Nashik, and the venue was considered lucky as the alliance won power soon.

This had led to Raj “adopting the city” and making frequent visits to it to supervise development works.

The Shiv Sena, which has five of 14 MLAs in the district, was first weakened by desertion of its leaders to the MNS and Congress. And then, it saw its tally in the municipal corporation falling from 36 to 25, forcing it to cobble an alliance with the Republican Party of India, Bahujan Samaj Party and independents to retain power.

“The Congress-NCP is fuelling the agitation”, said Sena district chief Datta Gaikwad. “If they were serious about suppressing the agitation, Raj could have been arrested immediately. The MNS is being propped up to spilt our votes,” he added.