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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu Mumbai: As the date for appointing Mumbai’s First Citizen looms closer, various political parties have adopted tough posturing to foist their own person for the coveted post of Mayor – the ‘face’ of the country’s commercial capital. Ruling Mahayuti allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have vowed that the city...

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu Mumbai: As the date for appointing Mumbai’s First Citizen looms closer, various political parties have adopted tough posturing to foist their own person for the coveted post of Mayor – the ‘face’ of the country’s commercial capital. Ruling Mahayuti allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have vowed that the city will get a ‘Hindu Marathi’ person to head India’s richest civic body, while the Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also harbour fond hopes of a miracle that could ensure their own person for the post. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) optimism stems from expectations of possible political permutations-combinations that could develop with a realignment of forces as the Supreme Court is hearing the cases involving the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party this week. Catapulted as the largest single party, the BJP hopes to install a first ever party-man as Mayor, but that may not create history. Way back in 1982-1983, a BJP leader Dr. Prabhakar Pai had served in the top post in Mumbai (then Bombay). Incidentally, Dr. Pai hailed from Udupi district of Karnataka, and his appointment came barely a couple of years after the BJP was formed (1980), capping a distinguished career as a city father, said experts. Originally a Congressman, Dr. Pai later shifted to the Bharatiya Janata Party, then back to Congress briefly, founded the Janata Seva Sangh before immersing himself in social activities. Second Administrator The 2026 Mayoral elections have evoked huge interest not only among Mumbaikars but across the country as it comes after nearly four years since the BMC was governed by an Administrator. This was only the second time in the BMC history that an Administrator was named after April 1984-May 1985. On both occasions, there were election-related issues, the first time the elections got delayed for certain reasons and the second time the polling was put off owing to Ward delimitations and OBC quotas as the matter was pending in the courts. From 1931 till 2022, Mumbai has been lorded over by 76 Mayors, men and women, hailing from various regions, backgrounds, castes and communities. They included Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs, even a Jew, etc., truly reflecting the cosmopolitan personality of the coastal city and India’s financial powerhouse. In 1931-1932, the Mayor was a Parsi, J. B. Boman Behram, and others from his community followed like Khurshed Framji Nariman (after whom Nariman Point is named), E. A. Bandukwala, Minoo Masani, B. N. Karanjia and other bigwigs. There were Muslims like Hoosenally Rahimtoola, Sultan M. Chinoy, the legendary Yusuf Meherally, Dr. A. U. Memon and others. The Christian community got a fair share of Mayors with Joseph A. D’Souza – who was Member of Constituent Assembly representing Bombay Province for writing-approving the Constitution of India, M. U. Mascarenhas, P. A. Dias, Simon C. Fernandes, J. Leon D’Souza, et al. A Jew Elijah Moses (1937-1938) and a Sikh M. H. Bedi (1983-1984), served as Mayors, but post-1985, for the past 40 years, nobody from any minority community occupied the august post. During the silver jubilee year of the post, Sulochana M. Modi became the first woman Mayor of Mumbai (1956), and later with tweaks in the rules, many women ruled in this post – Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar (1994-1995), Vishakha Raut (997-1998), Dr. Shubha Raul (March 2007-Nov. 2009), Shraddha Jadhav (Dec. 2009-March 2012), Snehal Ambedkar (Sep. 2014-March 2017). The last incumbent (before the Administrator) was a government nurse, Kishori Pednekar (Nov. 2019-March 2022) - who earned the sobriquet of ‘Florence Nightingale’ of Mumbai - as she flitted around in her full white uniform at the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, earning the admiration of the citizens. Mumbai Mayor – high-profile post The Mumbai Mayor’s post is considered a crucial step in the political ladder and many went on to become MLAs, MPs, state-central ministers, a Lok Sabha Speaker, Chief Ministers and union ministers. The formidable S. K. Patil was Mayor (1949-1952) and later served in the union cabinets of PMs Jawaharlal Nehru, Lah Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi; Dahyabhai V. Patel (1954-1955) was the son of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; Manohar Joshi (1976-1977) became the CM of Maharashtra, later union minister and Speaker of Lok Sabha; Chhagan Bhujbal (1985-1986 – 1990-1991) became a Deputy CM.

Legacy Undone

The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) was once a byword for intellectual rigour. Founded in 1930 by the Servants of India Society (SIS), a body inspired by the liberal nationalism of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, it has produced some of India’s finest minds in economics and public policy. But today, its name is more often in the crime briefs than in academic journals. The rot in one of India’s most storied institutions appears to run deep and regrettably, comes from within.


A probe by the Pune city police into alleged financial misappropriation at GIPE has revealed not merely a lapse in financial prudence, but a systematic and possibly premeditated diversion of funds. The trigger was an FIR by the institute’s officiating Deputy Registrar who alleged that over Rs. 1.42 crore was siphoned off between December 2022 and 2023. This led to the secretary of the SIS being taken in police custody after being accused of fraud, cheating and criminal breach of trust.


The case is remarkable not just for the scale of the alleged misappropriation, but for the brazenness of conduct. In one instance, Rs. 10 lakh was purportedly transferred from GIPE to SIS to pay legal fees for the SIS secretary’s personal case involving forgery and land disputes. In another, the secretary is said to have unilaterally written to GIPE in December 2022 requesting Rs. 1.5 crore to convert SIS-owned land in Nagpur from leasehold to freehold. Within two days, the GIPE board gave its nod in blatant violation of University Grants Commission (UGC) norms which expressly forbids diversion of institutional funds.


The sanctity of GIPE’s autonomy, academic mission and public trust is being eroded by these revelations. For decades, GIPE stood as a rare example of an Indian academic institution untethered from the usual state interference. It was independent, serious and austere - qualities increasingly scarce in India’s higher education landscape.


Now, it is mired in a drama more suited to a corporate boardroom brawl than a temple of learning. Even the appointment of Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, as chancellor turned into a political farce. SIS first dismissed him for failing to arrest GIPE’s ‘downfall’ only to sheepishly retract its decision, citing a misunderstanding. Sanyal hit back, pointing out that SIS, far from supporting the institute, now acts more as a landlord collecting rent than a patron of scholarship.


GIPE’s decline is not the result of academic failure but of governance decay. The UGC’s failure to enforce its own regulations, the absence of effective checks and balances within SIS and the apparent complicity of key functionaries at GIPE have together created a perfect storm of mismanagement.


Gopal Krishna Gokhale believed that public service was a sacred calling. The institute that bears his name was meant to embody those ideals. Instead, it has been reduced to a cautionary tale of how legacy institutions can be hollowed out from within.

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