While tens of thousands of mill workers choked traffic and marched for their rights supported by warring political parties united for the cause we take stock of who really won the day

Forumbai's rapidly fading community of mill workers, yesterday's morcha led by their representatives and those from the Shiv Sena, BJP, RPI and MNS brought back memories of shows of strength between 1960 and 1980, when the mill reform movement was at its peak.


Mill workers walk across the JJ Flyover, on their way to
Azad Maidan, to press for their long-pending demands
of housing and compensation.

And, while it remains to be seen whether the workers will get free 225-sq ft dwellings in upmarket areas such as Worli, Prabhadevi, Mazgaon, Parel and Byculla, the march is sure to have significant political implications.

MiD DAY takes a look at the winners and losers:

Sena-BJP-RPI alliance
With the Congress, NCP and MNS pulling out all stops to dislodge the Sena-BJP from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, yesterday's march could prove just the shot in the arm the alliance needed to consolidate its vote bank.

According to rough estimates, the alliance can ride on the support of almost 1 lakh families of mill workers, most of whom are still living in Central Mumbai and the suburbs.

The support of those who have settled in the Konkan region, western Maharashtra and other parts of the state could also prove helpful in the assembly elections.

And, adding ammunition to the movement was the participation of 5,000 members of the Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh, a leading body of mill workers controlled by the Congress and the NCP.

With issues such as pothole-ridden roads, fast depleting open spaces and allegations of inefficient
administration dogging the BMC, the saffron alliance seems to have found another winner.

The timing couldn't be better either, coming, as it does, after the saffron alliance found favour with the Ramdas Athawale-led RPI.

MNS
The Raj Thackeray-led party enjoys a vast support base among youth and women from the families of mill workers. Raj has cleverly chosen to join the agitation and yet avoid sharing a dais with the Sena.

By joining the workers' crusade, the MNS is certain to keep its support base almost intact despite Raj's detractors targeting him for purchasing Kohinoor Mill at Shivaji Park jointly with other stakeholders. He sold off his stake in the mill a few years back.

Congress, NCP
The Democratic Front government partners have taken different approaches to the agitation. While the Congress unit seemed to be in complete disarray, the NCP took on the Sena, BJP and MNS.

NCP MLAs Shashikant Shinde and Jitendra Avhad were aggressive in the State Assembly yesterday, when the house witnessed three adjournments amidst slogan shouting by the BJP-led Opposition parties.

Shinde and Avhad alleged that prominent leaders from the saffron alliance have been at the forefront in purchasing mill lands in Mumbai.

Avhad also made a sensational allegation that the saffron government that ruled the state between 1995 and 1999 planned the murder of Datta Samant in 1997.

Shinde even chided the mill workers saying they were fast losing their identity and demanded the publication of a white paper on the sale of mill land.

The Congress, however, failed to respond to the Opposition's attack led by Eknath Khadse, who was supported by Sena leader Subhash Desai, PWP leader Ganpatrao Deshmukh and MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar.

In the absence of an acceptable formula, the Congress may have to pay the price of disappointing the mill workers.

And, with the NCP muddying the waters further by deciding to make a demand for a similar policy for workers from other industrial units, the issue may get entangled in a political quagmire.