The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections could well turn out to be the battle of the Vada Pav.
Swabhiman Sanghtana, an NGO run by Nitesh Rane, son of industries minister Narayan Rane, on Friday inaugurated a ‘Chhatrapati Vada Pav’ stall exactly in front of Shiv Sena’s ‘Shiv Vada Pav’ stall in Powai Nisarg Udyan.
However, Rane freely admitted that his stall is ‘illegal’, but warned BMC authorities that if they want to take action against the stall, they must raze the Sena’s illegal stalls as well.
“Putting up stalls is against Mumbai’s Development Control Rule. Then why has the BMC failed to raze Sena’s stalls all this while?” asked Rane.
The Sena currently has 125 Shiv Vada Pav stalls in the city, the first among which opened in Powai, at the exact spot where Rane too inaugurated his first stall. In fact, the stall will now be followed by several others across Mumbai. “We do not make false claims of providing employment to Marathi youth. We want to expose how the Sena is betraying the Marathi youth by giving them illegal stalls,” said Rane.
“This, in a way, is disrespect of Shivaji Maharaj. Swabhiman, being associated with the ruling party, should start employment schemes. They are the ones who shut down Zunka Bhakar centres,” said Vinayak Raut, Sena leader.
