Ritu Tawde: A short tenure, a growing list of tiffs

For Mumbai Mayors, political battles have traditionally been fought across the aisle – the Opposition attacks, the Mayor defends. But six months into Ritu Tawde’s tenure, the Mayor is increasingly finding herself fighting battles closer home too, with the BMC administration, members of her own party and even allies in the ruling Mahayuti.Mumbaui Her latest confrontation has taken her beyond the civic House itself, with Tawde meeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis this week to seek changes in the Corporation’s administration.

For a Mayor whose formal powers are largely centred on presiding over the civic House and representing the city, the frequency and range of these run ins have made Tawde an unusually visible figure in the BMC’s new political dispensation.

Tawde’s political journey predates her elevation to the city’s top civic post. A former Congress member, she joined the BJP in 2012 and built a political base in Ghatkopar. A multiple term corporator, she was also associated with the BMC’s Education Committee and emerged within the party as a vocal and combative civic politician.

Her appointment as Mayor earlier this year marked a political shift in Mumbai. The BJP returned to the Mayor’s chair after more than four decades, ending the Shiv Sena’s long hold over the post. Tawde, therefore, entered office not merely as a new Mayor, but as the face of a change in the city’s civic power structure.

She also made clear that she did not intend to remain confined to the ceremonial dimensions of the office. Tawde positioned herself as a hands on Mayor, promising to take up issues ranging from civic infrastructure and basic amenities to unauthorised hawkers and illegal immigration.

It was a style that would soon make her a regular presence in the city’s political controversies. One of the first controversies to follow Tawde came almost immediately after she took office. Social media posts claimed that the Mayor was wearing a luxury Rolex watch worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Tawde rejected the claim, saying the watch was a Michael Kors model gifted by her children. In March, attention shifted from what she was wearing to the vehicle in which she travelled. Red and blue flasher lights installed on the Mayor’s official vehicle and an escort vehicle triggered criticism after photographs circulated.

The BMC subsequently removed the lights, which were not permitted under rules restricting the use of such beacons on government vehicles.