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By:

Prithvi Asthana

20 August 2025 at 5:20:30 pm

‘Just the beginning of the new revolution’

Gen Z says their next target is Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman Mumbai: Dancing on the tunes of ‘Zinghaat’, the Gen Z at Dadar, was celebrating Dharmendra’s Pradhan’s resignation. The ‘Tiranga’ rally called up by Thackeray brothers on Thursday for protesting was turned into a celebration rally after Pradhan’s resignation. ‘The Perfect Voice’ went on ground to know the real reaction of the Gen Z at the rally. A NEET student who gave the NEET and re-NEET exams this year, said that she...

‘Just the beginning of the new revolution’

Gen Z says their next target is Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman Mumbai: Dancing on the tunes of ‘Zinghaat’, the Gen Z at Dadar, was celebrating Dharmendra’s Pradhan’s resignation. The ‘Tiranga’ rally called up by Thackeray brothers on Thursday for protesting was turned into a celebration rally after Pradhan’s resignation. ‘The Perfect Voice’ went on ground to know the real reaction of the Gen Z at the rally. A NEET student who gave the NEET and re-NEET exams this year, said that she feels very happy that he has resigned now, and today all the students have won this battle. “I felt quite devastating when I heard about the paper leak. After the leak it was very tough to study again because I am in 12th standard as well. I was de-motivated and did not want to study again but I had no other option. I was continuously studying for seven months. It took a lot of toll on my mind, I was not able to focus on my 12 th standard. ” Talking about the results she said, “ I was not satisfied with the marks I got in re-NEET, and will take a drop. Looking at the sad state of Indian education system, I will go to study abroad.” A commerce student, present at the site, said, “ Now they know what will happen if they continue to repeat mistakes like this.” New Revolution A law student, Pranjal Khatu, said that this resignation will act as a deterrent for the government. She said, “This movement has established fear in government’s mind. This punishment given by the Gen Z will now actually send a message that the ministers should work responsibly, while listening to its public. I want to say thank you to PM Modi, because of him people from all religions have come together to hate someone.” Saying that this is just the beginning. This is just the beginning of the resignations, we are going to demand more resignations, the new revolution has just begun.” Sampada More, a graduate, said that it will definitely establish fear, but the government should have listened to us earlier, they should not have stretched this matter so long. “The next number is of Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman,” she said. A MBBS doctor in Nutraceuticals, joined the rally as well. She said, “He was supposed to resign way before. The government has clearly failed, because as Gen Z we were standing with the Truth, we are standing for what India’s stands as democracy. This is the reason we won the and the government lost. We are going to demand resignation of the Punjab minister responsible for Pharmacy exam paper leak. We will also demand the resignation of corrupted ministers like Nitin Gadkari and Nirmala Sitharaman next.” Fighting for Justice A class seven student rallying with his parents said, “We have finally got justice. I am very proud taking part in the rally and standing for my future. I supports this movement because when I grow up, I do not want any paper leaks happening at that time. I want to see some better minister who actually also focuses on the security of the examination system.” Another student currently in fourth year engineering said, “ This was the tipping point and we actually tried protesting before this as well but we were supressed a lot of times, but this time the government was not able to supress us because it was large. The CJP has done a commendable job in uniting youth of this country, and I am glad that he has taken the accountability and resigned.” Jay, a MBBS student said, “This is a celebration of togetherness, I have never seen such celebration in long time. This is a new sort of Independence.” Demanding more resignations, he said, “This will continue, the stars have aligned with us. This is Inqualab Zindabaad.”

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen

Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu
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.

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