Exclusive | Lok Sabha elections 2024: Mumbai is for Modi, says Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai has made up its mind to vote for Modi ji because the BJP governments in the Centre and state have transformed the city in the past ten yearsrdquo said deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ldquoYou have seen the two rallies NDArsquos and MVArsquos held on Friday and the marked difference between them People have decided to vote for Modi ji for Mumbairsquos changing face We will win all ten seats in MMRrdquo he said adding that the BJP and its allies will retain 2019rsquos tally of 41 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtramidday interviewed Fadnavis on Saturday the last day of campaigning for the fifth and last phase of polling on May 20 He said the city if transformed many years ago by the then governments wouldnrsquot have let Hyderabad and Bangalore become the information technology hubs of the country ldquoWe could have become the best much earlier butrdquo Fadnavis spoke on a range of issues including the Oppositionrsquos allegations and BJPrsquos new friends in MaharashtraWhy Mumbai for ModildquoPM Narendra Modi jirsquos rally at Shivaji Park has proven the cityrsquos love for him Modi ji is in the hearts of Mumbaikars and they have decided to vote for him In addition to Mumbairsquos six we will also retain four seats in Thane and Palghar districts That makes it a perfect 10 for us in MMRWe have transformed the city since 2014 the year the Modi government was installed in Delhi and I became the CM of Maharashtra In fact the city could have been transformed much earlier by the then governments The delay gave Hyderabad and Bangalore an opportunity to become IT hubsMumbairsquos projects would be impossible without Modi jirsquos support His contribution to the cityrsquos changing face is greater than any other leader We have created a world class infrastructuremdashtunnels metro rail network seatrans harbour links super expresswaymdashin the past ten years and we will be creating more in the coming years People know about our resolve to fulfil our vision for MumbaiModi ji granted permissions for the big projects immediately after we approached him And one more thing under Modi jirsquos tenure the city didnrsquot have a single bomb blast or any other terror activity The city feels safe like never beforerdquoOn redevelopment housingldquoFor example Dharavirsquos redevelopment was first mooted by late former PM Rajiv Gandhi but the proposal didnrsquot move an inch Many years later I identified the problem of rehabilitation I understood the need of insitu rehabilitation for Dharavikars who are into the informal manufacturing sector I proposed a fiveyear tax holiday for them so that they can gradually be part of the formal system Additional land was required so I got the railway land from the Centre That is our vision for the Dharavi projectThe oppositionrsquos allegation that the Dharavi project affected people will be relocated in Mulund is utterly false We have proven it as false propaganda during the elections We have brought in reforms to expedite redevelopment of dilapidated and cessed buildings BDD chawlrsquos redevelopment is the worldrsquos largest such project It is on and will be completed within the deadline For cessed buildings some 20000 proposals are in the pipelineThe trans harbour link has opened up avenues for affordable housing We can create a new Mumbai that is triple the size of the existing city beyond Atal Setu and build affordable homesrdquoRaj ki baatldquoRaj Thackerayrsquos association with us will not cause us any damage because he has given up the policy of exclusion and embraced a nationalistic agenda Regional pride is okay but we didnrsquot accept it when someone talked of exclusion Now MNS has begun its journey towards national issues Raj Thackerayrsquos participation will benefit us in Mumbai MMR Pune Nashik where he has admirers and vote banks It is wrong to say that we befriended Raj Thackeray to neutralise Uddhav Thackeray because lsquoThackerayrsquo is a brand Let me tell you that the BJP has also established its brand in Mumbai The poll results of 2014 2017 BMC and 2019 stand testimony to that Not just Marathi Manoos but all other communities are with the BJPNorth Indians are with the BJP because their fear ended in 2014 No individual is discriminated against on the basis of the language All are with Modi jirdquoFamily and party breakerldquoThe BJP did not split the Shiv Sena or the Pawar family The Shiv Sena was divided only because of Uddhav Thackerayrsquos ego and super ambition Sena broke because of the lsquofamily firstrsquo policyAfter 1995 Uddhav Thackeray cut Narayan Rane then CM to size because then CM was becoming a threat to him In 2019 he denied Eknath Shinde the CMrsquos office because Thackeray wanted to become the CM and wanted son Aaditya to replace himIt became clear that Shinde was gaining popularity among MLAs and MPs when Thackeray was unavailable to them Uddhav Thackeray humiliated and suppressed Shinde the urban development ministerAaditya Thackeray ran Shindersquos department Shinde left because it was the matter of his political existence The Sena had left Hindutva and Bal Thackerayrsquos ideology by joining hands with Congress and NCPThe NCP too split because of the lsquofirst family firstrsquo policy Sharad Pawar made Ajit Pawar a villain We had to convince our workers when Ajit Pawar was brought in We told them that we needed more allies to break through the chakravyuh that the opposition had created to isolate Modi ji We have an emotional bond with Sena A similar bond could develop between us and NCP within the next 10 yearsrdquoClean chit for AjitldquoIn 201112 I had charged then minister AJit Pawar in the irrigation scam I couldnrsquot have blamed an executive engineer Subsequent inquiries identified the guilty who were punished But the investigating agencies have not named Ajit Pawar or Sunil Tarkare in any chargeshit They couldnrsquot make them the accused even after 12 years If the Opposition says we have a washing machine to give clean chit they should admit at once that they all are corruptrdquoThe 400 paar narrativeldquoThe Opposition doesnrsquot have any agenda You confuse them when you canrsquot convince them They are liars and a narrative they have built around our 400 paar slogan is part of their war strategy But people know what Modi ji has done when he had a full majority He made the Constitution effective in Jammu and Kashmir where Article 370 denied the SCs and STs a quota in jobs education and politics Modi ji has saved the Constitution When he planned a special day to celebrate our Constitution the Congress and others opposed it Tell me who locked the Constitution in almirah in 1975 Who scrapped elections thenrdquo On caste politicsldquoIt is unfortunate that some constituencies witnessed a sharp caste divide this election Extreme polarisation was seen It is not good for the state It will do great harm in the long term Those involved donrsquot understand the threat such polarisation poses to the progressive MaharashtrardquoVote jihadldquoWe have videos of religious leaders and officers of the Muslim personal law board telling the community to vote to defeat Modi ji They named some candidates Whether Muslim or Hindu the Muslims should vote for a candidate who can beat the BJP They called it lsquovote jihadrsquo We surely opposed it And one more thing Uddhav Thackeray is a bigger lsquojihadi netarsquo than the CongressrdquoMandirMasjidldquoModi ji has to respond to the allegations or else people will think they are true Of the PMrsquos talk 80 per cent is for development and 20 per cent for reactions You ask us why mandir and masjid Tell me who brought it in Who said they will replace the Ram Lalla idol in Ayodhya Who said they will purify Ayodhyarsquos Ram MandirWho gave Muslim a quota in Karnataka Who made OBCs share their quota with Muslims after the SC scrapped independent quota for Muslims OBCs quota was reduced We have to tell the people who will suffer from Congressrsquos appeasement policyrdquoAgrarian issuesldquoSuicides happened largely in dry land farming areas We have created irrigation facilities in some dry lands and it will take more time for us to make it available in other parts of the state One who says we donrsquot understand farmers was the agriculture minister read Sharad Pawar for ten years The highest number of farm suicides took place during his tenure The Opposition doctored an old video to convince the farmers that the Centre had increased fertiliser prices during the elections We caught their lies and fake videos There was no price hikerdquoBMC pollsldquoWersquore ready for the BMC polls and elections to the other civic bodies even now We want these elections But the matter is pending before the Supreme Court The delay has certainly impacted us because these elections are for the party workers who contest themrdquo