India, Jan. 10 -- For the last decade, the BJP's rise in Mumbai rested on a crucial political assumption - that the city had outgrown nativist politics. Development, infrastructure and a broad Hindutva appeal rather than nativism were widely seen as the new idioms of urban power. This postulate is now being seriously tested. The Thackeray alliance has decisively re-centred Marathi asmita in Mumbai's civic politics, forcing the BJP to realign its strategy and place the Marathi Manoos at its centre.

Nativism and Marathi pride have long shaped BMC elections, particularly since the rise of the Shiv Sena in the 1960s. Bal Thackeray's enduring appeal, often framed around preventing Mumbai from 'falling into the hands of outsiders', mobilised M...