North Mumbai's people's man Gopal Shetty wins again

He is a polyglot, at ease in Hindi, Marathi, and Gujarati — the three major languages spoken in the city and this may have helped sitting Member of Parliament Gopal Shetty trump an attempt to consolidate votes for the second consecutive time, despite political observers believing that his opponent Urmila Matondkar might reduce his winning margins by cutting into Marathi votes.

The North Mumbai constituency continues to remain one of the strongest BJP bastions and Shetty its poster boy, by registering a massive victory with a margin of 4.64 lakh votes, which also marks his second consecutive win with four lakh margin — first in 2014 against the-then sitting Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam and now, against the actor-politician Urmila Matondkar.

The constituency that includes Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali, Charkop, Malad is dominated by the Gujarati and North Indian community with a considerable population of Maharashtrians, as well as Muslims and Shetty, who was first elected a Corporator in 1992 has served three terms as Corporator, two terms as MLA and is now, a two-term MP. "Shetty is a people's person and his command over all three languages has always helped him bond with Maharashtrians, Gujaratis and North Indians likewise and above all, public votes for the one who works for the cause of people of their constituency," said Charkop MLA Yogesh Sagar who has known Shetty for 20 years now.

BJP's party workers and several of Shetty supporters including some resident organisations state that while there is no doubt that since 2014, the Modi wave factor has bettered the prospects of every BJP candidate, but in Shetty's case no one could dispute the fact that people largely favour him due to his groundwork, accessibility and connect with the ground issues in his constituency.

"If he is in Mumbai you will always find him in his office at sharp 8 am meeting people and holding Janta darbar and despite being an MP he never shies away from resolving even the smallest issues of the people from his constituency," informed BJP leader Vikram Chogle stating that these factors are enough for people to vote for him and it showed as Congress could not even figure out a suitable candidate to be filed against him.

However, Shetty has his shares of controversies, from making comments like Christians weren't part of India's freedom struggle to regular allegations against him for taking over open spaces in the Borivali-Kandivali belt indirectly."

The Congress failed to capitalise on several issues and the biggest drawback was delaying in finalising Matondkar. If she had got enough time, the margin would surely be thinner as people who initially thought her to be a typical filmy person realised that she meant business," said a Congress party leader adding that if she continues to work for the next five years picking up the right issues and asking questions over open spaces, mangrove destruction and growing slums she could probably be the giant killer in 2024.