The Shiv Sena has fielded Shahid Reza Baig, a north Indian Muslim, from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Assembly seat in Mumbai.

Baig, 37, is the only Muslim face of the Sena in the Assembly elections. With vermilion mark on his forehead, a kurta-pyjama and Shiv Sena stole around his neck, he goes about seeking votes.

A Mathematics professor from Bihar and proprietor of a coaching institute, Baig is the son-in-law of Mahim Sena MLA Suresh Gambhir, who unsuccessfully contested from South Central Lok Sabha seat in May.

“I joined the Shiv Sena some four years ago, but never thought of entering active politics. It was only when I started campaigning for my father-in-law that I had a strong feeling of contesting elections,” he says. “It was Bhau Korgaonkar, (Sena’s vibhagpramukh), who pushed my name at Matoshree (the home of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray).”

Ask Baig about the communal agenda of his party, and he says, “Who says the Shiv Sena is communal? Had this been the case, I could have never got a ticket. During the Sena’s regime, madrasas got more FSI (floor space index) and the Isthema (religious conference) held in 1996 got full support from the Sena government.”

“It’s not that Sena’s policy is anti-Muslim. Apart from Sabir Sheikh, we had also given Assembly ticket to one woman activist from Umerkhadi and she had bagged a good amount of votes,” says Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut.

But who would vote for the Sena and its Hindutva ideology in the Mankurd-Shivaji Nagar? The area has always helped the Congress to get huge leads and win elections. The only time Sena tasted victory here was when Ratnakar Narkar got elected in 1995. “People here are least interested in communal politics. People are deprived of basic amenities and face acute water shortage. Look at the areas where the Sena has a corporator or an MLA, one would find little politics,” he says.