The quest for Maharashtra

Shiv Sena attacks Narendra Modi Narendra Modi attacks Sharad Pawar Ajit Pawar attacks Prithviraj Chavan Sharad Pawar attacks Modi Raj Thackeray attacks BJP the Congress as usual plays its mysterious game of silence which sometimes thrills voters and sometimes stumps everyone including the Congress party itselfSo are all these signs of bitter divorces or temporary separations until after Maharashtrarsquos assembly elections are over and the fight for the spoils must begin again Because make no mistake Maharashtra is rich pickings for any political dispensation in power and everyone wants a piece of this fruity pieReady for battle Making a break from family tradition Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray expressed his ambition to forget being a remote control like his father and take the electoral plunge with the intention of becoming chief minister PicPTIThe figures speak for themselves mdash highest contribution to the nationrsquos GDP most industrialised most foreign direct investment income over the national average Yes there is competition from other states several of those new to the development or industrialisation game have faster rates of growth And yes Mumbairsquos contribution is tremendous and skews the figures so that the neglect of interior areas can be covered up Not only is Mumbai still Indiarsquos ldquocommercial capitalrdquo but its annual municipal budget alone is a whopping Rs 30000 croreThe prime minister has spent much of his election campaign in Maharashtra harping on how he will take Maharashtra ahead of Gujarat Leaving aside for now how that will hurt the lsquoasmitarsquo of the 6 crore people of Gujarat he has been nurturing for so long the facts show that Maharashtra is already ahead of Gujarat And this includes human development figures as well where Gujaratrsquos showing is quite dismalIn any case it can be dangerous to walk down this state versus state game especially when you are prime minister of the nation and one state has been under your direct control from 2001 to 2014 Further the Maharashtra versus Gujarat battle is an old one and has not always been a friendly one Gujaratis in Mumbai have suffered from the parochial taunts and attacks of the Shiv Sena in its early days Why rake up those old demons unless you are unaware about themOf course often it seems that the prime minister is unaware of what he says Much rhetoric about avoiding the split of Maharashtra and furthering the cause of lsquoShivaji Maharajrsquo but as any school child in Maharashtra knows the Marathas spread beyond Maharashtra into Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in Shivajirsquos time and after Presumably none of that is coming back to Maharashtra Is that a road you want to walk down just to score brownie points with a foe who was till recently a friendThe Shiv Sena on the other hand is smarting and smarting badly After three consecutive terms of the CongressNCP alliance government this election looked like a shooin for the ldquosaffronrdquo combine especially after the Lok Sabha results Making a break from family tradition Uddhav Thackeray even expressed his ambition to forget being a remote control like his father and take the electoral plunge with the intention of becoming chief minister And how did its ally respond With its own calculated greed based on the notion that Modi will carry them through mdash the BJP pushed its oldest ally to the brink and they decided to part waysIf you listen to all the promises made about infrastructure and development however regardless of the party making them you know that Maharashtra is still doomed by its cash cow status Trying to exploit symbols like Shivaji is old old hat and anyone who has lived in Maharashtra knows that is tokenism of the most cynical kind The people of the state are not going to be the beneficiaries here In all this chatter about development where is the conversation about conservation Where is the attempt to stop the degradation Ajit Pawar made that deplorable remark about urinating into dams to get water But has anyone tried to address the problem Farmers committing suicide is not a new disaster and it is not confined to Maharashtra either Where are the answersFor the first time in my adult life I am glad that Irsquom not going to vote in this election And I donrsquot envy any of you who have toRanjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on twitter ranjona