Even before the Maharashtra polls were announced, Ravi Sunder’s (name changed) daily calendar was choc-a-bloc, with meetings throughout the day. Originally from Bihar, Sunder, apart from being a top-rung corporate honcho, he is also the most sought-after power broker who has made Mumbai his home over the last two decades.
Sunder has been at the core of several discussions with Bihari migrants who come seeking his advice on various issues, from business to even politics. “Local issues will dominate the Maharashtra elections instead of party ideology, and Muslim migrant voters will play a significant role in the victory of most candidates,’ he points out further, adding that the electorate has seen through the faces of most politicians who have been shifting parties at the drop of a hat and that they have hung up their boots on them.
Instead, voters are now interested in seeing what they get in return for their votes, he says, continuing that while everyone is talking about the Marathas, OBCs, and Kunbi vote banks, what many political parties are ignoring is the vast migrant Muslim and Hindu vote banks from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which has grown tremendously over the years. Maharashtra, especially Mumbai, has a large migrant population, which is largely divided, he observes. While there are migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, Punjab, and the south of India, not all vote together. Each of them has different requirements.
“Traditionally, Biharis and UPiites have been voting for the BJP, but this time around they won’t do so. They will be voting for whoever is going to empower them instead.” he continues, adding that 10 per cent of the total population in Maharashtra, is that of migrants from Bihar. “There are one crore migrant Biharis currently living in Maharashtra and roughly 40 per cent of them have voter ID cards. 40 lakh Biharis will be making a huge difference in the state polls,” he says, adding that most of these migrants work as construction labour, hawkers, or in factories and end up staying in the state buying properties and have moved on to participate in local politics.
“More than the Hindus, the Muslim Biharis are participating in local politics. While some are political workers, some plan on fighting in the upcoming corporation elections. They have also realised that all this ideology is useless; whichever party empowers them with an election ticket, will vote for them. No party is taboo, but whichever party will give them a ticket or empower them is halal for them.”
He believes this trend was started by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Initially, a lot of migrant Muslim Biharis joined MNS; after rinsing in the ranks, they switched over to join the Shiv Sena and later jumped over to the BJP. These Muslims, who were initially quite poor when they started, gradually became rich and powerful, and today they are dominating several pockets across Mumbai city as well.
Today many areas in and around Mumbai, such as Nagpada, Walkeshwar near Malabar Hill (which has a growing Bihari population from Darbhanga), Dharavi, Sion, Kurla, Kalina, Ghatkopar, Antop Hill, Anushakti Nagar, and Shivaji Nagar, have a considerable Muslim migrant population from Bihar.
Traditional Muslim voters who once supported the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, and Samajwadi Party have realized their potential. Now, they are contemplating new political alliances, with the game-changer being the entry of migrant Muslims from Bihar. It would be interesting to see how they will impact the political fortunes of several candidates in these assembly polls.
(The author is a senior journalist based in Mumbai. Views personal.)
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