NEW DELHI, 12 June 2003 — The Shiv Sena, a powerful right-wing Hindu group, has vowed to keep new migrants out of the city of Bombay, according to news reports yesterday.
Firebrand Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said new migrants would not be allowed to settle down in Bombay, and these include everyone “from outside Maharashtra state, especially Bangladeshis”, the Asian Age newspaper reported.
Cosmopolitan Bombay is a melting pot of various religions, cultures, communities and ways of living. Hundreds of people stream in every day from all over the country in search of work and a better life.
Most end up on the roads or in slums, barely managing to survive, but happier than starving in their poverty-stricken villages. Bombay is home to Asia’s largest slum, Dharavi.
Thackeray warned no new slums would be allowed in the already overcrowded city.
“It’s an alarming situation in Mumbai (Bombay) as the slums are continuously growing ... We welcome all those whom came to the city till 1995, but all those who came after that date are not welcome,” Thackeray was quoted as saying. The Shiv Sena has now launched a “Me Mumbaikar” campaign, which means “I am from Bombay” in the Marathi language, for pre-1995 settlers, New Delhi Television (NDTV) reported.
