Shiv Sena plans outreach to neo-Buddhists, offers ₹10 lakh to uplift each Buddha Vihar | Mumbai news

Mumbai: Stepping up its outreach to Scheduled Castes (SCs) ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections, the Shiv Sena has asked all its branch heads to visit every Buddha Vihar and publicise a recent state government resolution (GR) sanctioning a one-time amount of ₹10 lakh per community centre for its upliftment.

Addressing a group of party workers from Mumbai on Friday, the Shiv Sena’s Kalyan MP, Shrikant Shinde, said that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) performed better than the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the Lok Sabha polls due to a “fake narrative” that the latter would destroy the Constitution if it retained power.

Shinde said the party had to do better to counter the opposition’s narrative by informing the neo-Buddhist community about the newly sanctioned funds for Buddha Vihars to construct libraries and study rooms, and conduct repair work. Party workers have also been asked to inform the community centre heads that the state government plans to build a Constitution Bhavan in every taluka, along with a memorial of the late Dalit poet and social worker Annabhau Sathe in Ghatkopar. The Shiv Sena has also published booklets on the recently launched welfare schemes that would benefit SCs.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the neo-Buddhist community, who are followers of the late Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar, largely voted against the ruling Mahayuti government. Over 90% of the Buddhist SC population lives in Maharashtra. The MVA won 30 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

“If we tell them about the schemes, they can change their minds,” Shinde told Shiv Sena workers. “Now, I feel that this community is coming towards us. But we have to reach out to them just as we are doing community outreach for the Ladki Bahin scheme.”

Shinde has also asked party workers to hold at least 15 rallies to publicise the recently launched Ladki Bahin scheme, which provides a monthly allowance of ₹1,500 to underprivileged women across the state. He said both MLAs and those wanting to contest Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections must organise such programmes.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader and former MP Gajanan Kirtikar said the party has demanded at least 50% of the 36 assembly seats in Mumbai as part of the Mahayuti alliance’s seat-sharing pact. The Shiv Sena will ensure that at least 15-20 party candidates are elected in Mumbai, he said.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the undivided Shiv Sena, which was in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, had contested 18 seats and won 14. Six of those MLAs went with Eknath Shinde when he rebelled and engineered a split in the party in 2022, while the remaining eight stuck with the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction.