A Thackeray Bahu Steps Out To Campaign

'When I see people's faces I can see that there is a certain sadness in their eyes which makes me unhappy as a person.'
'I want to see people happy in their lives.'

IMAGE: Mitali Amit Thackeray surprises a resident on the campaign trail. Photographs: Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com

They were separated by the boundary wall of their respective colleges and didn't know each other as young students in 2009.

Mitali was a South Mumbai girl and Amit, a central Mumbai teenager.

His family background was politics and her father was a surgeon.

Amit studied at the R A Podar College while Mitali went to the adjacent Ramnarain Ruia college, which was separated by a wall from Podar.

During a break, when the duo stepped out of their respective campuses, their eyes made contact and life was never the same again.

Mitali Borude and Amit Thackeray wed in 2019.

Amit is the son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thackeray, and is debuting in the Maharashtra assembly elections from the Mahim constituency in north central Mumbai.

When we met Mitali (who is a fashion designer) campaigning for her husband Amit, she recalls, "It was love at first sight for me. And yes, for him too. We dated for 10 years, from 2009 to 2019, before deciding to get married."

The couple have a son (Kiaan, born in May 2022) who Mitali has dropped off at her parents' home so they can devote full time to the election campaign.

On the campaign trail Mitali rings the doorbell of a house in a building in the old Prabhadevi area and the person opening the door is surprised to see Amit and Mitali outside.

Mitali takes out an MNS pamphlet and tells the voter, "Remember the date, it is November 20. Please go and press the button for the railway engine, the MNS symbol."

Amit Thackeray's opponents in this election are two-time MLA Sada Sarvankar of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and Mahesh Sawant from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).

Sarvankar had won the Mahim seat on the undivided Shiv Sena ticket in 2019, and after Eknath Shinde engineered a palace coup in June 2022, he moved to the latter's camp.

Can Amit win the election? "I am sure he will win," asserts Mitali. "The way people are responding to him during campaigning shows how much love they have for him."

IMAGE: Amit and Mitali meet voters.

"Amit is very approachable as a politician. He has no airs. He mingles with people easily. He has come to politics to change things on the ground and make people's lives better," adds his wife.

The last time the MNS won the Mahim seat was 15 years ago, in 2009, when its candidate Nitin Sardesai won.

So who decided Amit, who is 32, should contest the election? "It was a party decision. Amit too felt he should contest from Mahim as he knows the area well," says Mitali.

Mahim is prestigious for both the Senas and the MNS as Sena Bhavan, the headquarters of the original Shiv Sena founded by Bal Thackeray, is in Dadar, which is part of the Mahim constituency.

All three Senas in the fray in Mahim trace their origin to the original Shiv Sena, making it a prestige fight.

Does she feel the Thackeray surname is a huge responsibility for Amit as expectations are bound to rise among voters? "The Thackeray surname is a responsibility because people do expect you (to deliver). And I feel if we do our work with a clean heart," says Mitali, "things do get done."

So what are the issues plaguing the Mahim constituency? "Basic problems like water pressure in taps. People do not get water with high pressure in Mahim. These kinds of issues should have been solved long back, but has not been done yet. Therefore, we tell people that they need a change in leadership and Amit is the right person to ensure that change," says the candidate's wife.

"I know that when my husband takes on some responsibility he will surely complete it. He will never leave the work half done."

Mitali then goes on to complain about the poor streetlights in bylanes.

"Often at night I have to switch on my mobile torch while on a walk because the streetlights are either dim or there are none. These things are shocking to see because one cannot have such poor visibility in night as it becomes unsafe for women to walk on the streets after dark," she says.

"Another problem that I saw was open sewage lines. Amit has assured people that once the election campaign is over he will see to it that there are no open sewages which leads to a stink," adds Mitali.

Since the MNS champions the Marathi Manoos, is there any particular Marathi youth problem that she came across while campaigning? "Employment is a huge issue. This too needs to be addressed. When I see people's faces I can see that there is a certain sadness in their eyes which makes me unhappy as a person. I want to see people happy in their lives."

Highlighting a dream of her husband, she says, "The entire stretch from Mahim to Prabhadevi is on the seafront. Nothing has been done to clean it up. If we clean it up and have shacks on the sand we can make this area like Goa. This will create a lot of local employment in the area."

Asked if her father-in-law Raj Thackeray gave her a brief for the campaign, Mitali says, "No, there was no brief. He loves the fact that I am with Amit and supporting him."

And does she or Amit keep in touch with their second cousin, Aaditya Thackeray, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader? Mitali is to the point. "No, we are not in touch. We never meet."