The city is a nerve centre of the Indian economy, Indian finance, Indian business, and not exclusively Maharashtrian. The city drives India, Maharashtra included. Every one of us reading this newspaper has a stake in the success of Mumbai. Mumbai impacts our livelihoods, our consumer and investment choices. In order that we continue to ride towards prosperity, Mumbai has to attract the best not only from India but from the world.

And for that, the state has to snatch back its fundamental role — law and order — from divisive politics. Liberal thought doesn’t mean the state needs to cower before goons. Indian polity needs to face a new reality, where the role of the state is not in running enterprises but in making law and order its first priority, the rule of law its first domain.

gautam.chikermane@expressindia.com