Atmanirbhar Chaha stalls kick off; add to hawker menace in city

Mumbai: The city unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to latch on to the national buzzword ‘atmanirbhar’ and set about allocating tea stalls to party workers and the unemployed in the city recently. The chain of shops, titled Atmanirbhar Chaha, will sell small eats apart from the beverage of choice. Forty-six stalls are already operational and the party aims to expand the number to 400.

The idea is reminiscent of Shiv Sena facilitating vada pav stalls in crowded places to unemployed youth, soon after the party was founded in 1966. Most of the shops were unauthorised but it was an attempt by the party to strengthen its roots in the city.

Likewise, the Atmanirbhar Chaha stalls are operating without licence from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief JP Nadda, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and leaders such as Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Ashish Shelar plastered on the shop fronts. The present initiative is seen as the party’s bid to gain political momentum in the forthcoming elections.

“This is a part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat credo. The stalls are being given to those seeking self-employment. They can avail of loans up to ₹ 50,000 under PM Mudra Yojana,” said Pratik Karpe, Mumbai secretary of BJP. He added that 60 more are expected to be added to the chain in a month.

When HT brought the issue of promoting illegal hawking through this scheme to his attention, the party’s OBC Morcha chief, Narendra Gaonkar, who spearheaded the project, said, “It is true they do not have licences. But, most Mumbai hawkers don’t. They have been given Mudra loans by the banks and have Udyam PAN cards. The thought behind this is to eradicate unemployment caused due to Covid-19.” He added that meetings with Fadnavis and other leaders are on the anvil to protect them from BMC and police action.

Karpe however insisted, “the stalls are set up in the hawking zones only”. “We expect them to lead an honourable life and move on to shops in buildings from the footpath. I do not think it will increase the menace of hawkers in the city,” he said.

In 1995, after it came to power, the Shiv Sena-BJP government launched Zunka Bhakar centers – the meals were sold for Re 1 at stalls set up at prime locations in Mumbai. The scheme did not succeed but the stalls continue to run today, selling other food items under a change of ownership.

“We are not competing with or imitating anybody. This is no political ploy. We have not gathered people from a particular community – most stall owners are Maharashtrians, some even our party workers,” said Karpe.

Expressing joy at the initiative, Sheel Modi, a stall owner at Tata Hospital said, “We are making good money and business is picking up gradually. The party helps us whenever we face BMC or police action.” Her husband, Ramkrishna Modi is a BJP worker.

Author and political analyst Prakash Akolkar threw light on how Shiv Sena had benefitted from the vada pav stalls through the ’60s and ’70s. “The stalls were opened in lower-middle class neighbourhoods. To make deeper inroads into local neighbourhoods. Gyms and libraries eventually opened in areas like Parel, Lalbaug and Girgaon. BJP is towing the same line. However, the question is, how will these hawkers carry out their trade, given that we have no footpaths to walk anymore.”