Get ready for this year’s poll battles

Voting

An exciting election battle, which is to be fought this year, will give the MVA partners and the BJP a sense of what the popular political sentiment is, only if the pandemic allows a massive local body poll programme to be held seamlessly. About two-thirds of the state's voters will be wooed for votes. Mumbai and other mega cities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), and places like Pune, Nagpur and others, will be seen in action with their rural counterparts exercising their franchise to vote. But, will the elections be held as scheduled? The government faces a legal tangle over the OBC political quota that must be restored through legal means and in accordance with the Supreme Court directives. Will the Centre step in? Some say the Narendra Modi government may approach the SC to seek remedy, because other states are also mired in the same controversy.

Mumbaikars cast their vote for the 2017 BMC elections at Jogeshwari. File pic

The MVA will fight for the quota in court, and counter the BJP, over several issues in the public forum, the legislature and will try to beat the principal opposition in electoral contests that had made the then ruling party the single largest one in the local bodies as well. These elections, that come two years after the state government was installed, have generally favoured the ruling combination. Will the MVA get united to topple the BJP?

Year 2022 will also mark the MVA's halfway journey to a five-year term that it promises to complete at any cost, but not without facing a perennial question about its united longevity in power, even as the BJP is constantly queering the pitch to hurl dangerous balls at the Uddhav Thackeray-led formation.

The BJP leaders have given deadlines after deadlines to destabilise the MVA government. The New Year will see the BJP trying even harder to salvage the pride that the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress had hurt badly in the winter of 2019.

In Mumbai's most-watched civic polls, it will be a direct fight between the Sena and BJP. The contest will test the leadership of the Sena scion Aaditya Thackeray, who is preparing to don the mantle, sooner or later. On the other hand, ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis has taken total command of the BJP's plan for the state capital. It was a close contest five years ago when the then ruling partners fought each other. A few seats short of the Sena tally, the BJP conceded the reigns to the Sena then, but now it has vowed to deny the Sena its long-ruled fiefdom.

The elections will also bring Raj Thackeray back into the spotlight. The MNS chief has attempted to prick his cousin time and again, but without much success, ever since the two parted ways 15 years ago. There are talks of the MNS having a tacit understanding with the BJP.

Once the ruler and later the principal opposition party in the BMC, the Congress has long lost its sheen because of the infighting and growing presence of the BJP in the city. The New Year will determine the standing of the state's four parties, and also the MNS, which had shown remarkable performance in certain pockets of Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra.

Quota issue

The MVA will fight for the quota in court, and counter the BJP, over several issues in the public forum, the legislature and will try to beat the principal opposition in electoral contests that had made the then ruling party the single largest one in the local bodies as well

Putting the ha-ha-ha into hydrants
Emojis on defunct infrastructure bringing in much-needed new year cheer

In a facelift, fire hydrants in Colaba, that stick out like a sore thumb, have been painted to make them more appealing. The make-over has been topped off, literally, with artists painting an emoji atop.

Happy, snappy, new year, with the new-look fire hydrants

Hydrants have been in the megapolis from British times. Most of them are defunct now, though decades ago they were an important water source and part of the firefighting efforts in the city. In some spots, fire hydrants have sunk so deep into pavements, which have increased in height over the years, that they resemble a drowning man barely able to keep his head out of water.

Haresh Hathiramani, part of the Colaba Residents and Shopkeepers Association (CRSA), explained the genesis of the initiative. "Roughly, a month ago, corporator Makarand Narwekar and other proactive residents Bella Shah, Maria Chico and I were brainstorming about what can be done to give the area a facelift. We zeroed in on hydrants that looked dilapidated and unclean. We decided it would be good if they are painted. Defunct or working, they are an intrinsic part of Mumbai's identity, a staple on our roads for years. It was my idea to tell the artists to paint emojis, conveying happy, funny emotions on the fire hydrants," he said.

Before the makeover!

Hathiramani said the idea struck him when he saw some children playing with balls with emojis painted on them.

Bella Shah and Maria Chico said, "These little fire hydrants have either diminished in size, disappeared or now go unnoticed. This was a creative idea to paint hydrants from Regal junction to Colaba post office with emojis. We look forward to spreading happiness in the tiny way we know best." The artists group, led by Jeevan Wankhede, Sachin Halde along with artist Uttam (who goes by his first name) and a few others, have been painting the hydrants.

A collage of the work in progress

The painters and movers ‘n' shakers behind Happy Hydrants said they have had great feedback, which has enthused them to do more this year. "The most heart-warming gift is to see a child laugh, as he stops and stares as we are in the process of painting," they said while putting the happy into Happy New Year.