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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.

Why Justin Trudeau Got Unpopular?

Justin Trudeau

The Canadian downfall has a lot to do with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, the rising unpopularity of Justin Trudeau is not a recent development. Trudeau in fact hit the rock bottom a long time ago. Needless to say, he is running a minority government, and he has somehow managed to survive with outside support driven by the ever freckling nature of the Khalistani supporter Jagmeet Singh.


While Trudeau was struggling to secure his position in the country, what made matters worse is that he ended up alienating a member of his own team. This sowed the seeds of the latest debacle.


Trudeau’s Deputy Prime Minister Christian Freeland resigned some two weeks back and the downfall accelerated. She was also Canada’s Finance Minister. Freeland publicly tendered her resignation with scathing claims against Justin Trudeau.


The resignation said that Justin Trudeau asked her to step down from the Finance Ministry because of load standing ideological differences in financial decisions. Freeland wanted to cut spending to reign in the budget deficit which had risen to 60 billion Canadian dollars. She wished to bring it down to 40 billion Canadian dollars. However, Trudeau was not allowing her to take the necessary steps. He refused to control government spending. In her resignation letter, Freeland had said that Canada needed to prepare itself for Donald Trump and his moves after he takes over as the US president.


Trump had threatened tariffs on goods from Canada as high as 20 percent which had the potential to crush Canada’s export sector completely. Freeland had pointed out, “Otawa needed to keep its fiscal powder dry.”


However, Trudeau seemed to be in no mood to care for the people of Canada and he was desperate to secure his benefits. Trudeau is planning to dole out money to the tune of 250 dollars to Canadians earning 150 thousand dollars annually. Such attempts to gather public favour are not new. While his popularity went down significantly over last nine years, Trudeau got into desperate attempts to ensure his reelection in 2025 polls by distributing money to the people in a bid to regain his popularity. Freeland called it “a costly political gimmick”.


Freeland in her resignation letter also mentioned that Trudeau was planning many more such costly gimmicks. She mentioned that Trudeau was planning a tax break on essential items. While this was planned during holiday season was supposed to cost 1.6 billion Canadian dollars in loss tax revenue.


Trudeau’s desperate attempts to buy popularity were going to crush Canada’s long term fiacal health. This prompted Freeland to quit and abandon the chaotic situation. Furthermore, Canada’s Housing Minister Sean Frazer too decided to quit adding to the sentiment of demand for Trudeau to step down as the leader of the Liberal Party by his own MPs. Needless to say, Trudeau’s rivals and allies like Jagmeet Singh made the most of it by strengthening the call for his resignation. However, he refused to step down and appointed a new Finance Minister adding to his depleting popularity.


While a re-election in Canada would mean a threat to Trump’s tariffs and hence Trump went all out launching a scathing attack on Freeland when she decided to resign. Reacting to the development om social media, Trump called her “toxic” and said, “Governor Trudeau was right to fire her.” He not only mocked Freeland but also mocked the Canadian Prime Minister by calling him a “Governor”. Trump further suggested that Canada joined as the 51st state of America to evade tariffs. Situation couldn’t be worse for Trudeau leaving only one option for him and that is to step down as the Canadian Prime Minister.


Trudeau's leadership has been marred by other controversies too. Ethics Scandals, particularly the SNC-Lavalin case, where he was found to have attempted to influence federal prosecutors. Besides he also attracted criticism over governance missteps during COVID-19 pandemic and housing market pressures. Clashes with party members including Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who resigned in December 2024 was the final nail in the coffin.

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