“This Is Not Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”: Maharashtra On IFSC Decision

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said the decision was “disappointing” and a move against Mumbai, which is widely seen as the country’s financial capital

Mumbai: 

The Maharashtra government has hit out at the centre over its decision to make Gujarat’s Gandhinagar the headquarters of the proposed International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). The centre issued a gazette notification to this effect on April 27.

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, whose party rules the state in an alliance with the NCP and the Congress, said the decision was not in line with the “sabka saath, sabka vikas (development for all)” tagline repeatedly used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Sawant alleged Mumbai, widely regarded as the financial capital of the country, was being suffocated.

“The IFSC has been moved from Mumbai’s BKC to Gandhinagar in Gujarat. This happened on Maharashtra Day. The state is pained by this sad decision and we have to appeal against it,” Mr Sawant told NDTV.

The Lok Sabha member also said his government was only concerned about “what is due to Maharashtra” and was not against setting up a financial services centre in Gujarat.

“We have a big heart. If you set up a new centre there, we have no problems. We are not angered or saddened by that. But what is due to Maharashtra, what is Maharashtra’s strength, what Maharashtra is known for (is) the financial capital Mumbai,” he added.

Mr Sawant said he had addressed Lok Sabha five years ago on this subject.

“I want the centre to reconsider and put this decision on hold. This is not sabka saath, sabka vikas (development for all),” he said.

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NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) chief Sharad Pawar, who was widely seen as playing a crucial role in stitching an alliance between the ideologically disparate Congress and Shiv Sena, said the decision was “disappointing” and a move against the country’s financial capital.

Interestingly, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is now Leader of the Opposition, is backing the centre’s decision despite having pushed for the IFSC to be located in Mumbai while he was in power.

He has said the city lacked required infrastructure. Mr Fadnavis alleged that between 2007 and 2014 (when the Congress ruled Maharashtra and led an alliance in Delhi), neither the state nor the centre did anything towards setting up the IFSC, while Prime Minister Modi (who was then Chief Minister of Gujarat) pursued the idea and developed needed infrastructure.

Mr Fadnavis said Mumbai could become an additional financial services centre, in addition to the headquarters in Gujarat.

“When the government changed in 2014, Maharashtra made an application and demanded the IFSC come to Mumbai. In 2015 the centre changed SEZ rules and allowed a financial SEZ to be set up. Gujarat proposed GIFT (Gujarat International Financial Tec-City) and we proposed Mumbai. GIFT was in an advanced stage and got approval,” the former Chief Minister said.

Mr Fadnavis said Mumbai’s proposal was rejected as 50 contiguous acres of land were not available in the city’s Bandra Kurla Complex.

“We again showed availability and resubmitted the proposal. That is still with the centre, it has not been rejected,” he added.

Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted: “The centre, in its gazette notification of April 27, has declared that Gandhinagar in Gujarat will be the HQ for IFSC Authority. Taken away from Mumbai, would have helped the city create 100,000+ new jobs in the financial sector and in ancillary service”.