Maharashtra CM's remarks that migrants contributed to Mumbai's development does not go down well with Shiv Sena

After the MNS, it is the turn of the Shiv Sena to attack Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his comment that migrants from other states contributed to Mumbai's development.

"There is a competition that takes places intermittently, that of insulting Mumbai and the Maharashtrians and it is sad that Maharashtra's chief minister has plunged into it. Fadnavis's statement cannot be justified. He has not spoken in favour of the toiling classes who crafted Mumbai and protected it, but in favour of those who exploit them. It is because Mumbai was rich and prosperous that people from other states came here and became successful," said an editorial on Saturday in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna.

The newspaper has Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray as the editor and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut as the executive editor.

It charged that many what had come to Mumbai seeking a fortune had tried to kill this proverbial hen that laid the golden egg and claimed that it was because of the Shiv Sena that the city survived.

"One question is always asked, whom does Mumbai belong to? First and foremost, Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra," the Shiv Sena said, adding that North Indian leaders like Ram Manohar Tripathi and I.D Singh had merged into the local culture and expected others to do likewise.

The editorial alleged that the BJP wanted to play politics on the strength of non-Maharashtrian votes and added that at present, the construct of politics meant that the development of Mumbai signified the rule of the builders and the rich and the use of this money for the "politics of the parties of the Shetjis."