Rejuvenating Mumbai is my dream: Deshmukh

There is a certain degree of dignified candidness in Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s politics. He doesn’t hesitate admitting his shortcomings.

At the same time never utters a word, even off-record, about his rivals; within and outside the party. Once a defiant leader, who left Congress, fought against it and went on to lead the same party for two successive terms, Mr Deshmukh is aware that he is being watched, by the Congress’s ubiquitous high-command and the people of the state.

It’s certainly not the best of times to be the Maharashtra’s chief minister when expectations are high and the failures higher.

This Tuesday, Mr Deshmukh completes two years in his second term as chief minister, but celebrations will certainly not be on his mind. Excerpts of an hour-long interview.

Your critics say you are no longer the same dynamic leader once you used to be...

In a way they are right. It’s one thing to be one of the ministers and another to be head of them. You can’t show the same dynamism when you were a minister in a single party government. Alliance government is a totally different animal.

Here, the dynamics are thoroughly different. There are departments and respective parties, handling that department, to take credit for every good work. But failures are always the chief minister’s babies.

Can that be an excuse for non-performance?

Yes, it can be. But it’s a reality of life. In alliance government there is a significant erosion of your authority. You have to mould or adjust yourself at every step. Look at the Centre.

One has to find a way to push things. It’s all the more difficult in Maharashtra for us because all-important portfolios — be it home, finance, irrigation or the energy — are with the NCP. In this situation, every party in the coalition works only for credit, no one wants to govern. Alliances are never cohesive. And so there is no uniformity in governance. My performance has to be judged with this backdrop.

But politically things are better now compared to your last term since you have to deal with a couple of partners, and not dozens.

Let me admit. I had only one point agenda in my last term. To survive. I was always on a fire-fighting mission with one or the other alliance partner. Things are relatively better now.

Still the state is seen going nowhere?

It’s not the correct perception. We are back in the reckoning. See the number and size of the investment coming to Maharashtra. In Auto we virtually have all the majors. Two giant auto projects are in the pipeline.

In IT and BT we are number one. Almost every big company wants to be here. And now we are looking forward to special economic zones (SEZs).


There is a lot of uncertainty over SEZs and your government’s policies appear far from being right.
Land is a very sensitive issue. And when such vast areas are being taken over across the country, it is bound to bring some uncertainty. And as far as the policy is concerned, no policy is perfect and final. Certain loopholes have been pointed out in our SEZ policy; we are trying to plug them. I am open for debate and shall review or change if need be.

Even then you seem to be walking an extra mile in helping the SEZ promoters on land acquisition. Why your government is acquiring land for private enterprises?

Let me put it on record. Neither are we acquiring land for any of the SEZs nor we have a plan to do so. My government has initiated a process like we do in any other industry. Now it’s up to the land owners or farmers and the SEZ promoters to go ahead or stall it. My government has no role to play.

You are seen favouring certain industrial houses.

Absolutely not. Every proposal for the SEZ has come to us from the Centre. They approve it ‘in principle’ and then it comes to us. On the contrary, it’s a mad rush from the industry to set up SEZs.
Every day we have been receiving a number of such proposals. It’s now the flavour of the season. And fashionable too. Like every other concerned, I’m too equally worried about this recent trend. I don’t know where it’s heading.

Critics have described it as land grabbing?

That’s why I have one question for these people (SEZ promoters). Why everybody wants to be near Mumbai-Pune? SEZs can be set up anywhere. Why don’t they go interiors? I have even asked Mukesh Ambani’s RIL to move away from Pune for their proposed foray into irrigation and contract farming.

Which are the areas you would have acted differently were you running a single-party government?

More allocation for backward regions and Mumbai. (This was in reference to the NCP, though he didn’t name it, which is being accused of diverting funds to western Maharashtra depriving other regions). Former is necessary to stop farmer suicides in Vidarbha. This is one thing that depresses me. The regions of Marathwada and Vidarbha need urgent funds to complete their irrigation projects. These two regions pull down Maharashtra’s average performance.

And I believe the time has come to pay back Mumbai. The city has given so much to everyone, but receives nothing in return. Two successive deluges, bomb blasts and an unstoppable flow of migrants have brought the city to near collapse. The city can’t it take any further.

I am happy that my government has managed to get the Centre sanction a major Mumbai development plan. The last time the Centre released funds for Mumbai was when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister. Since then this is the first significant package for the city.

Even the World Bank too has come forward for Mumbai. Rejuvenating Mumbai is my dream.