These are the men and women Mumbai has put its faith in. The new MLAs elected by the city for the next five years have their task cut out as the financial capitals list of grievances is legendary and their term as legislators could make all the difference between hope and despair. Newsline talks to each of these 36 MLAs and gets them to detail their plans and how they intend to go about implementing them. Shiv Sena leader and newly elected MLA Ravindra Waikar,who was named in the Srikrishna Commission report for inciting a mob and shouting communal slogans against the Muslims during the height of Hindu-Muslim riots in the sensitive Jogeshwari area,now wants to bury the past. And top on his agenda after the swearing-in ceremony is to work for the neglected Muslims who were merely used for votes by the Congress. I want to work for the development of Muslims. They havent got their due from the Congress who in the name of secularism used them to gain power, Waikar told Newsline. There are large pockets of Muslims in the Jogeshwari constituency,accounting to a strong votebank of 44,000 and more,and Waikar had won from here. Following his first stint as Sena corporator in 1992,Waikar and another Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar MLA were accused of leading a mob,on January 4,1993, towards the Chacha Nagar Masjid in Jogeshwari,shouting anti-Muslim slogans and pelting stones on a mosque where some Muslims had gathered to offer namaaz. Both were acquitted last December for lack of evidence after the prosecution failed to prove its case. The whole case was a conspiracy by the Congress. How come none of the Congress leaders were named in the report, he asks. But 16 years hence,he wants to forget the past and work for Muslims. After the riots,we carried out a lot of development and communal harmony work in the Muslim areas. They know me well and have faith in my work, added Waikar who claims to be a born Sainik and has constructed 40 Hindu temples in Jogeshwari. The recent Assembly election was the second attempt by Waikar who lost the 2004 Assembly election in Andheri. Jogeshwari,a known Congress area,had rejected the Sena in the civic elections five times before Waikar won in 1992,but since then the constituency has been taken over by the Sena and Waikar has been a corporator for the past four terms. As an MLA,he now plans to push the delayed slum rehabilitation schemes and thus provide housing to the Muslims and other slumdwellers in the area. There are several government plots that are encroached and if we implement the SRA scheme,the slumdwellers will get authorised housing and the land will be freed, he says. Waikar also plans to implement the SRA schemes through the BMC on encroached civic land. He says being a local corporator has also helped in his reputation. Even before winning the elections,he had started work in Jogeshwari,including the East-West bridge connectivity at Oshiwara,trauma medical centre,municipal market and completion of Salaskar Garden. He is also looking forward to developing the open spaces,constructing a sports stadium in the area,a new railway overbridge at Jogeshwari railway station for east-west connectivity,widening of roads and providing facilities to the Adivasi hamlets in Aarey Colony and surrounding areas. A fitness freak who dedicates two hours a day for lawn tennis in his self-developed Matoshree Club,Waikar also wants to encourage sporting culture among the youths and citizens. He promises that he will remain accessible to citizens. They can meet on his weekly visit apart from other days when they can take their grievances to him.
