Marathi vs North Indian: Why did Kripashankar of Jaunpur come into limelight in BMC elections?

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections have become a neck-and-neck battle for the Thackeray family and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this time. A few days ago, when Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray were on the same stage, Raj Thackeray had said that the Mayor of Mumbai will be Marathi. Now BJP leader Kripashankar Singh has created a stir in Mumbai politics by mentioning ‘North Indian Mayor’. He had given this statement in the context of Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation but now Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bala Saheb Thackeray) has cornered BJP on this. On the other hand, BJP leader Nitish Rane has said that the Mayor of Mumbai will be Marathi and Hindu. Last year itself, another leader had said that no ‘Khan’ would ever be allowed to become the Mayor of Mumbai. These statements are telling that once again Marathi vs non-Marathi politics is going to dominate the BMC elections.

After two factions in Shiv Sena, which was in control of BMC for a long time, Uddhav Thackeray has now formed an alliance with his cousin Raj Thackeray’s party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). On the other hand, BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena are contesting the elections together. With the arrival of Raj Thackeray with Shiv Sena (UBT), which has been doing Maratha and Hindutva politics for a long time, BJP is trying to re-raise the issue of Maratha versus non-Maratha.

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Sanjay Raut angry at BJP

Now, cornering BJP on the pretext of Kripashankar Singh, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut has said, ‘BJP does not want to make the sons of the land i.e. Marathi people the mayor of Mumbai. She wants to spoil the atmosphere through Kripashankar. Kripashankar is not the leader of Hindi speaking people, people have defeated him in UP. In their own state. Now if he comes to Mumbai and does politics of North Indians, then BJP wants to create a dispute between Marathi and non-Marathi, we do not want this. The Hindi speaking and Gujarati speaking people here have always been supporting Shiv Sena but when they saw that the entire Marathi people have become one, then they started talking about Marathi and non-Marathi. I want to tell Kripashankar ji and his master sitting in Delhi that the Mayor of Mumbai will be Marathi.

What did Kripashankar Singh say?

In fact, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kripashankar Singh may have contested from Jaunpur Lok Sabha seat of UP, but his political workplace has been Maharashtra and Mumbai only. This time he is also very active in BMC elections. Recently, regarding the Mira-Bhayander elections, Kripashankar Singh had said, ‘We will elect so many North Indian municipal servants that the mayor will also be a North Indian.’

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When BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule was asked a question about this, he said, ‘I do not know what Kripashankar said but who will be the mayor, it will be decided by the BJP’s state parliamentary board and the elected councilors.’ Let us tell you that Kripashankar Singh had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Jaunpur Lok Sabha seat but he was not successful. Then Samajwadi Party’s Babu Singh Kushwaha became the winner by getting more than 5 lakh voters and BJP’s Kripashankar Singh came second by getting more than 4 lakh votes.