Ritu Tawde | Mayor rising

The 133-year-old heritage hall in the iconic Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters was readied this week to welcome its elected representatives. After a gap of over four years, the opulent chamber, featuring Burma Teak wood, gold-leaf motifs, and colonial-era chandeliers, once again hosted corporators. Among them was Mumbai’s 78th Mayor, Ritu Tawde, who walked in with a saffron turban, draped in a saffron sari. She took charge from the administrator and BMC Commissioner, Bhushan Gagrani.

Ms. Tawde, 53, became the second BJP mayor and the eighth woman mayor of South Asia’s richest civic body. She is an assertive, young, Marathi, Maratha, Konkani woman face of the BJP from the Gujarati-dominated Ghatkopar area, which has traditionally voted for the party. The two-term corporator takes charge as Mumbai’s mayor, a largely titular yet socially significant position, amid challenging times.

Though this is the first time the BJP has emerged as the largest party in the BMC, it does not command a majority on its own. In the 227-member House, it holds 89 corporators. Its ally, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, has secured 29 seats. This is significantly lower than the tally of the Shiv Sena group led by Uddhav Thackeray, which contested the BMC for the first time since the 2022 split. Uddhav Thackeray fought against the collective might of the BJP and Shiv Sena and won 65 seats. With this, his party has become the principal Opposition, comprising several experienced faces. Notably, four former mayors of Mumbai are part of the Shiv Sena UBT’s ranks in the BMC. In contrast, the BJP has one of the highest numbers of newcomers.

Senior BJP leaders said her name emerged as a leading contender soon after the mayor’s post was declared reserved for women in the open category. “The party wanted someone who is dashing, energetic, articulate, and who can respond to situations quickly. We wanted someone who can take up Hindutva aggressively, who understands the city’s dynamics well, and who has some experience. Someone who is educated and who can take the BMC’s internal system head-on,” a senior BJP leader said. “She fit the bill well. She will have to take up challenges. The party is acutely aware that it will have to struggle with an administrative system which had been controlled by another party (Shiv Sena UBT) for decades. As the mayor, Ritu Tawde will have to weed out corruption in the corporation and expose nexuses in development projects.”

From Congress to BJP

For Ms. Tawde, who began her public journey over 22 years ago through social work in Ghatkopar and was later chosen by Congress leader Gurudas Kamat to contest the 2007 BMC elections on party ticket, challenges are nothing new. She left the Congress in 2012 after being abruptly denied ticket, and subsequently contested on BJP ticket and won. She credits her husband and her mother-in-law, a schoolteacher, with nurturing her social aspirations. “My children were very young then, but my mother-in-law used to insist that I must make time for myself, do something with my life. I started with social work for women, helping them fight domestic abuse and start small economic ventures,” she said. Ms. Tawde headed the Education Committee during her last term. But her claim to fame was her fight against the roadside display of mannequins with scanty clothes.

For the senior BJP leadership, what stood out was her drive to work without expecting any rewards, leaders said. BJP MLC Prasad Lad, who has known Ms. Tawde for over a decade, praised her for her work during COVID. Pravin Darekar, another BJP leader, said he was impressed by her efforts to help women in need. “She would often get them to the bank to help them get small loans. She never asked for anything for herself.”

As Ms. Tawde trains her guns on “illegal Bangladeshi hawkers”, the city will expect her to deliver on basic priorities like clean air, better travel, a better public transport system, safe infrastructure work, among other things.