Mumbai arguably is without doubt one of the most linguistically numerous cities in India the place a outstanding trove of languages have taken roots over the previous century. It has additionally been the cradle for the politics of nativism espoused by events like Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena which have stood for safeguarding the financial and political pursuits of the ‘Marathi Manoos’. Nonetheless, in terms of political illustration, practically half of the political representatives despatched to the Lok Sabha by the town have been non-Marathis.
Throughout all Lok Sabha elections since 1951, a complete of 94 MPs have represented the assorted seats of Mumbai and 42 of them (virtually 45 per cent) have been non-Marathis. In truth, in terms of main political events just like the Congress and the BJP, the vast majority of their MPs have been non-Marathis. There have been 43 MPs who’ve been elected on a Congress ticket in Mumbai. Of those, 26 who make up 60 p.c of the Congress MPs, are non-Marathi. The identical is the case with the BJP which has seen 15 MPs elected from the town, of which eight, accounting for 53 per cent of the whole MPs, are non-Marathi. The one celebration which by no means had a non-Marathi MP was the Shiv Sena, which, with its largely nativist agenda, has despatched 15 MPs all of whom are Marathi.
The necessity for a non-Marathi face in Mumbai’s polity is basically due to the distinctive demography of the town. The capital of the erstwhile Bombay State that included elements of Gujarat and Karnataka, Mumbai has been a linguistically numerous metropolis with Marathi in addition to Gujarati audio system staying in massive numbers. Its fame because the financial powerhouse of the nation has additionally introduced in numerous migrants from throughout the nation. Many of those migrants have sought a stake on the political desk searching for illustration.
It’s primarily as a result of this different demography that events just like the Congress and the BJP have needed to pander to the calls for of political illustration for non-Marathi audio system. Whereas the current political dynamic within the state has meant that within the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the Congress, which is combating on two seats, has given tickets solely to Marathi faces, the BJP which is contesting on three seats has given two seats to non-Marathis.
Sociologists intently affiliate language with id. The financial and demographic change that has taken place in Mumbai has now slowly ignited the method of reworking Mumbai’s id right into a predominantly Hindi-speaking metropolis.
Whereas there isn’t a latest quantitative knowledge out there concerning the origins of every Mumbaikar, a 2011 census report on the mom tongue of residents within the metropolis has proven that respondents who establish Hindi to be their mom tongue has grown by over 40 per cent from 25.88 lakh to 35.98 lakh in Mumbai. On the similar time, the variety of respondents who mentioned that Marathi is their mom tongue fell by 2.64 per cent from 45.23 lakh in 2001 to 44.04 lakh.
The identical census knowledge exhibits that the inhabitants share of people that profess Marathi as their mom tongue has dipped from 37.77 per cent in 2001 to 35.4 per cent in 2011. On the similar time, the quantity of people that declare that their mom tongue is Hindi, Gujarati and Urdu has elevated from 46.79 per cent to 52.12 per cent.
This gradual change within the composition of Mumbai has had an essential bearing not solely on planning and governance but in addition in shaping the politics of the town.