MNS makes inroads into Dongri

On February 4, 1997, SM Khalid, a member of Shiv Sena, was shot dead, allegedly by the henchmen hired by Chhota Shakeel. Ever since the incident, none of the members of the Thackeray family were able to make inroads in the areas with concentrated Muslim population such as Dongri and Bhendi Bazaar.

However, Sena rebel and now the chief of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Raj Thackeray is all set to change the picture, ahead of the 2012 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. The party opened its first shakha in Dongri on Tuesday without much resistance.

Khalid had joined Sena in 1996 and had tried to work on behalf of the party in this Muslim-dominated area. However, labelling his joining the Thackeray brigade as treason, in the wake of 1993 Mumbai riots, he was shot dead. The organisations led by Thackerays have not gained any momentum since then in the area.

MNS zonal head of Mumbadevi, Sharif Deshmukh, is however not scared of the past. “That was in the past. We are working for Raj Thackeray now. As we attended the rallies and programs of the party, we realised that this Thackeray is different. We believe in his secular ideas and went ahead with the original plan to start the shakha in Dongri,” said Deshmukh. He also claimed that around 1000 people from the area, majority of them Muslims, have accepted Thackeray’s leadership.