Anandiben speech heats up Marathi vs Gujarati debate

Sawant’s comment comes just a week after Congress minister and Konkan strongman Narayan Rane lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of trying to undermine Mumbai’s position as the financial capital.

On Saturday, addressing industrialists and investors on the 108th anniversary of Indian Merchants’ Chamber, Patel began to read a speech in heavily accented English, then switched over to Gujarati, clearly aware that a majority of the audience was Gujarati.

“Bhaiyyo ane behno (brothers and sisters),” said Patel. “I just read out the speech in English but what is the big deal? Jyare Narendrabhai US maa jai ne Hindi maa bhanshan aapi shake, toh hoon Mumbai maa avi Gujarati maa boli shaku chu (When Narendrabhai can speak in Hindi in the US, I can certainly speak in Gujarati in Mumbai),” she said. She then went on to praise Gujarat and the Gujarati culture before getting down to business.

Describing Gujarat as a global business hub, she hinted that investors and industrialists must think beyond Mumbai. Patel invited all the gathered investors to attend the “Vibrant Gujarat” Summit to be held in January 2015. She also mentioned Mumbai’s notorious traffic. “I have been told it takes you a couple of hours to go from one place to another. That frightens me,” she said, before going on to add that Gujarat has a better quality of life for industrialists.

Congress leader and former minister Arif Naseem Khan said the attempts to project Gujarat as an alternative to Mumbai as an investment destination were politically motivated. He said even though Gujarat has managed to attract big investments in the past few years, Maharashtra is far better in industrial growth. “They are unable to achieve this and hence the CM came to Mumbai to invite investors,” Khan said.

The BJP, however, denied charges that there was a deliberate ploy to polarise voters in Mumbai. “Critising Anandiben for inviting investors is a silly logic which can happen only in Mumbai. If Maharashtra CM goes to Ahemdabad and invites investors to Mumbai, he won’t be criticised for that. If Modiji has invited investors from Washington, does it mean he wants to take away all the investments from Washington?” BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said.

Krishna Hegde, the Congress MLA from Vile Parle, where one-third of voters are Gujaratis, said it was sad that some politicians were trying to divide communities. “As far as investments are concerned, Anandi Patel must try getting investments from abroad and not from Maharashtra,” he said.

Talking about Anandiben’s address on Saturday evening, president of IMC Prabodh Thakker said, “We were impressed by her deep knowledge and interest in investment and industries sector the first time we met her. We decided to invite her to Mumbai. I think the way she spoke will attract investors to Gujarat. We want investments to stay in India rather than going to foreign countries on a large scale. Whether it goes to Gujarat, Maharashtra or anywhere in India, it is good.”

Incidentally, Thakker, director of Mumbai-based Global Insurance Service Pvt Ltd, has pledged to invest Rs 150 crore in the Global Skill and Knowledge Development Centre in the Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City project being developed as the country’s first smart city near Gandhinagar.