Today, when Narendra Modi is in the news for his ugly election rhetoric at Mangrol, Mumbaikars remember his address at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park in January 2003. It was vintage Modi alright: he placed all those who attack Hindutva on a par with Pakistan and exhorted his audience to “use all means” to undermine those who attack it. From the crowds who came to listen to him, it was clear that the Gujarat chief minister had a significant support base in Mumbai, what with its large proportion of Gujaratis. The question is whether that support base is growing or waning. I would argue that the decline has begun.

But first let us briefly look at the larger historical canvas. Most Mumbaikars, who are primarily from the Marathi community, regard the Gujaratis in the city as businessmen — entrepreneurs, traders, stock brokers. Quite often, the Marwaris are also clubbed along with the Gujaratis. Although Mumbai is known nationally and globally as a city that is driven by business, there is also a strong socio-cultural undercurrent that regards such activities with disdain. This is a legacy of the socialist-communist trade union movement which dominated the organised industrial life of Mumbai until the mid-eighties. The Marathi proletariat and intelligentsia shared this perception and sometimes exhibited a quiet but distinct resentment towards the Gujaratis/Marwaris. What fostered the hostility was the fact that most of the textile mills were owned by Gujaratis/Marwaris, as indeed most of the shops, particularly ‘kirana’ stores. Gujaratis/Marwaris also dominated the stock market. On Dalal Street, the lingua franca was always Gujarati.

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