Mumbai: Byculla constituency which has over 40% Muslim population selected Yamini Jadhav as its legislator in 2019, which became the first instance for the undivided Shiv Sena or any saffron-clad party to rule over the constituency.
While Jadhav is set to enter into a Sena vs Sena fight in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections, her tenure as the MLA of Byculla carries along the complaints of lack of significant development and redevelopment of old dilapidated buildings.
Like her husband Yashwant Jadhav, who started as a municipal corporator and was later elected as the chairperson of BMC’s standing committee, Yamini Jadhav also started her political career as a municipal corporator from Byculla in 2012 and headed the Markets and Garden committee from 2012 to 2017.
She was also a member of the Education committee during the same term. In 2017, she was reelected for her second term in the corporation during which she ran for the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections.
The 2019 assembly elections were a turning point for Jadhav as well as Byculla as she became the first person from the Shiv Sena or the BJP affiliated parties to win from the constituency which was earlier considered as a Congress bastion.
In the Muslim dominated constituency, Jadhav received 51,180 votes which consists of 41.03% of the total votes polled in, defeating AIMIM’s sitting MLA Waris Pathan. After the Shiv Sena was split into two, Jadhav shifted to Eknath Shinde’s faction, which ultimately constituted the government in the state.
Jadhav was also fielded as Mahayuti’s candidate for 2024 Lok Sabha elections against Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Sawant but did not succeed in starting her parliamentary journey as she lost to Sawant by 52,673 votes.
Notably, Jadhav trailed in her own constituency against Sawant as she received 40,817 votes while the latter received 86,883 votes in Jadhav’s constituency. However, she gave a strong fight to her rival through her election campaigning and gained 44.36% of the total votes against Sawant’s 51.18%.
According to the latest MLA Report Card released by Praja Foundation, Jadhav secured the 8th rank among all the legislators from Mumbai. With a score of 68.86%, Jadhav maintained her clean criminal record and attendance in the assembly. However, her rank for number and quality of questions asked in the assembly dropped from 9th rank in 2023 to 12th rank in 2024.
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Jadhav listed out her accomplishments in her tenure as the MLA and said that with her efforts, the Indian Navy personnel will soon have a jetty and an office at the expense of Rs 60 Cr on the eastern coast which will help them patrol the area effectively and enhance national security.
She also added that she was proud of her efforts which led to the state government allowing women police personnel wear saree from their first month of pregnancy to prevent miscarriage.
“I was ranked at the 8th position by Praja, received multiple awards including one from the President but I am not satisfied with my work. These accomplishments are milestones in my journey but if I feel satisfied with them, it will turn into a full stop of my journey. I want to focus on cluster redevelopment in my area and aashray yojana for Class-4 employees of the state government,” added Jadhav.
Waris Pathan, former MLA from Byculla and Jadhav’s rival in 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections, said, “Jadhav has not done anything for the people of Byculla in these five years. Earlier she was inactive for two years during the Covid-19 period and later she got herself busy in the case filed by the Enforcement Directorate against her family. She has not done a single work for development of the area and upliftment of people in the constituency. The voters of Byculla know the reality and will their decision will be reflected in their votes.”
Jadhav had recently been accused of appeasement of Muslim community after she distributed burqas to Muslim women in her constituency, which also became a reason of tussle between the Shiv Sena and BJP. BJP’s city chief Ashish Shelar had shown displeasure against it and had said that his party does not agree with such programmes.
Earlier, Jadhav’s husband had also landed under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate after he was said to be connected with alleged violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act.
Byculla is also known as the home to renowned Urdu poets and writers including Saadat Hasan Manto, Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi and Majrooh Sultanpuri among others. The state government allotted land for an Urdu Learning Centre in Agripada and literary figures in the locality give its credits to Jadhav.
They say that her efforts of raising the demand in the assembly resulted in the approval of the project and issuance of work order. However, people are also upset about Jadhav choosing Eknath Shinde’s faction of Shiv Sena which is in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Zubair Azmi, founder of Urdu markaz, a literary organisation working to promote Urdu language, said, “While Jadhav stood up to get us the Urdu Learning Centre, Mangalprabhat Lodha and other BJP leaders opposed it.
However, people got upset as she joined the party in alliance with the BJP which was opposing the learning centre. There is a need to establish more cultural centres in Byculla for different languages and the MLA needs to focus on it.”
However, a few citizens feel that Jadhav has not done any significant development work in her tenure except from a few beautification projects that people claim are to promote herself and her party. They feel that she could have also worked for upgradation of the JJ Hospital, one of the biggest public hospitals in Mumbai which falls under her constituency.
Aamir Edresy, president of Association of Muslim Professionals, said, “Our MLA has not done any work that will stand out as a development. She got the gate of a public park in Mazgaon renovated and also the wall along the road leading from Mazgaon to JJ Hospital. She could have provided funds for JJ Hospital and got some machinery upgraded, that would have proven beneficial for the entire state.”
Byculla, an urban cosmopolitan constituency, is filled with slums and old dilapidated buildings which are in urgent need of redevelopment. With lack of much buildable space available to make redevelopment profitable for builders, the locality is hopeful on their representative to find a way out. Multiple MHADA buildings are awaiting redevelopment due to government’s conditions reducing the builders’ profit margin.
Madhukar Chavan, former MLA of Byculla who withdrew his nomination after rebellion from the Indian National Congress, said, “Both the MLAs in the last ten years, Vaarish Pathan and Yamini Jadhav, have not done any work for Byculla. She has only spent money on beautification and plantation on footpath. Byculla needs immediate focus on redevelopment of old buildings and many buildings need to be repaired as they are in dilapidated condition.”
In the upcoming Vidhan Sabha election, Jadhav will be contesting against Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Manoj Jamsutkar, a former Congress corporator from Byculla who later joined Shiv Sena for not getting a chance in the 2019 assembly elections. Like Jadhav, Jamsutkar’s spouse is also a former BMC corporator and both the former corporator couples are trying their best to attract votes on their sides.
