Sena rakes up old rhetoric against Bihar & UP migrants after Gadkari's population concern

Shiv Sena on Monday attacked the Central government over the alleged comments by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari where he said that the population in Mumbai and Pune needs to be controlled. Sena in the editorial of its mouthpiece 'Saamana' said that it agrees with the concerns of Gadkari but he also needs to tell what solution can be found to solve this issue.

'Mumbai more of outsiders than of Marathis'

The party said that the issue of the population was brought up by Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray during the Vajpayee regime and he had suggested a 'permit' rule for outsiders entering the state but however the leaders of the states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar opposed it at that time.

BJP's ex-ally accused the Modi government of not helping Mumbai at the time of crisis. The editorial said that because the Centre does not focus on other cities in the northern states, the population has increased in Mumbai. "The capital of Maharashtra has now become more of outsiders than of Marathis," the editorial added.

It also raised the issue of re-migration of workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Mumbai amid the Coronavirus pandemic and slammed the governments of UP and Bihar. Sena asked that what happened to the promises made by UP and Bihar Chief Ministers when they said that the migrant workers will be provided employment in the state and they will not to take permission to go to other states for work. 

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Shiv Sena said that around seven to eight lakh migrant workers from Mumbai and around three lakh migrant workers had returned to their state but now, at least two lakh of them have returned in search of jobs because the states did not provide them with employment. 

The editorial said that in the year 2015, 'Smart City Mission' was announced by PM Modi where the Centre was planning to make 100 smart cities like Mumbai and Pune but it has been more than five years now and there is no progress on that project. "To solve the issue of population in Mumbai, the government should build smart cities in Jharkhand, Bihar and UP to reduce the burden on Mumbai and Pune and then only Gadkari's worries will be solved," it said.

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