By Online Desk
While many opposition leaders focused on what is happening in Manipur to take the government to task during the ongoing debate on the no-confidence motion in Parliament, BJP’s former ally Shiv Sena came up a list of ways in which the Centre has allegedly favored Modi’s home state of Gujarat at Maharashtra’s expense. While the allegations are increasingly becoming common in Mahrashtra politics, they only rarely find mention in national debates.
“You ask why this no-confidence motion,” said Arvind Sawant, a former trade union leader who is currently Shiv Sena’s MP from South Mumbai.
“What have you done for Maharashtra? How can we keep confidence in you?”
He then went on to list a number of industrial projects that were originally meant for Maharashtra, but were allegedly enticed into Gujarat by the Centre.
“The financial center that was in Maharashtra, you took to Gujarat. Maharashtra’s Vedanta-Foxconn [semiconductor project], you sent to Gujarat. Maharashtra’s Airbus [plant], you sent to Gujarat. Maharashtra’s drug park, you sent to Gujarat. Maharashtra’s diamond center, you took to Gujarat,” he rattled out.
Indeed, the list of ‘lost projects’ has been attracting increasing attention in Maharashtra, and is being used to paint the picture that the Modi administration is unfairly favoring Gujarat.
It was not just a case of active diversion of new projects, said Sawant.
Several large projects in Maharashtra have been kept waiting for clearances and funds, including the Nhava Sheva container port near Mumbai, to favor competing projects in Gujarat, according to local politicians.
“Maharashtra’s sea port has been waiting for development for nine years,” Sawant said.
Touching upon another matter close to his heart, Sawant said the central government has not done anything for the mill workers of Maharashtra.
Thousands of workers at various textile mills have been laid off in Mumbai, starting in the 1980s, due to various reasons, including strikes and market forces. Although they had been promised compensation by various governments, little has come by way of actual benefit, he pointed out.
Another point of discontent was the bullet train project from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. “We have 10% of it, but we have to bear 70% of the costs,” he said.
It is not just in development matters, according to Sawant, that Maharashtra is getting the step-motherly treatment from the Centre. The MP alleged that the prime minister ignored the state during the recent Tauktae cyclone, which is reported to have killed 21 people in the state, along with 67 in Gujarat.
“When the Tauktae came, the honorable prime minister conducted aerial surveys in Gujarat, but his helicopter did not come forward, instead if went back,” Sawant said. “You have ignored Maharashtra.”
Sawant went on to characterize the dispensation at the centre as “insensitive”, adding that the government was happy to ignore what was happening in Manipur for months. “It is only when the Supreme Court said: Will you do something or should we do something..” he said.
Even in today’s discussion, he alleged, spokespersons from the ruling side were doing everything to divert and trivialize the discussion by talking about unrelated events and topics.
He also made a reference to the recent addition of leaders such as Ajit Pawar from the Nationalist Congress Party into the Maharashtra state government, mocking the BJP for rolling out the red-carpet to political leaders it used to describe as ‘naturally’ corrupt. He said the centre was using investigating agencies to drive all corrupt leaders to the ruling formation.
While many opposition leaders focused on what is happening in Manipur to take the government to task during the ongoing debate on the no-confidence motion in Parliament, BJP’s former ally Shiv Sena came up a list of ways in which the Centre has allegedly favored Modi’s home state of Gujarat at Maharashtra’s expense. While the allegations are increasingly becoming common in Mahrashtra politics, they only rarely find mention in national debates.
“You ask why this no-confidence motion,” said Arvind Sawant, a former trade union leader who is currently Shiv Sena’s MP from South Mumbai.
“What have you done for Maharashtra? How can we keep confidence in you?”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
He then went on to list a number of industrial projects that were originally meant for Maharashtra, but were allegedly enticed into Gujarat by the Centre.
“The financial center that was in Maharashtra, you took to Gujarat. Maharashtra’s Vedanta-Foxconn [semiconductor project], you sent to Gujarat. Maharashtra’s Airbus [plant], you sent to Gujarat. Maharashtra’s drug park, you sent to Gujarat. Maharashtra’s diamond center, you took to Gujarat,” he rattled out.
Indeed, the list of ‘lost projects’ has been attracting increasing attention in Maharashtra, and is being used to paint the picture that the Modi administration is unfairly favoring Gujarat.
It was not just a case of active diversion of new projects, said Sawant.
Several large projects in Maharashtra have been kept waiting for clearances and funds, including the Nhava Sheva container port near Mumbai, to favor competing projects in Gujarat, according to local politicians.
“Maharashtra’s sea port has been waiting for development for nine years,” Sawant said.
Touching upon another matter close to his heart, Sawant said the central government has not done anything for the mill workers of Maharashtra.
Thousands of workers at various textile mills have been laid off in Mumbai, starting in the 1980s, due to various reasons, including strikes and market forces. Although they had been promised compensation by various governments, little has come by way of actual benefit, he pointed out.
Another point of discontent was the bullet train project from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. “We have 10% of it, but we have to bear 70% of the costs,” he said.
It is not just in development matters, according to Sawant, that Maharashtra is getting the step-motherly treatment from the Centre. The MP alleged that the prime minister ignored the state during the recent Tauktae cyclone, which is reported to have killed 21 people in the state, along with 67 in Gujarat.
“When the Tauktae came, the honorable prime minister conducted aerial surveys in Gujarat, but his helicopter did not come forward, instead if went back,” Sawant said. “You have ignored Maharashtra.”
Sawant went on to characterize the dispensation at the centre as “insensitive”, adding that the government was happy to ignore what was happening in Manipur for months. “It is only when the Supreme Court said: Will you do something or should we do something..” he said.
Even in today’s discussion, he alleged, spokespersons from the ruling side were doing everything to divert and trivialize the discussion by talking about unrelated events and topics.
He also made a reference to the recent addition of leaders such as Ajit Pawar from the Nationalist Congress Party into the Maharashtra state government, mocking the BJP for rolling out the red-carpet to political leaders it used to describe as ‘naturally’ corrupt. He said the centre was using investigating agencies to drive all corrupt leaders to the ruling formation.
