Sanjay Nirupam: Mumbai’s stormy petrel on to his next port of call

SANJAY Nirupam has always carried, euphemistically speaking, more bark than bite. No surprise then that as he exited the Congress spitting fire at it on Thursday, even telling it to save the expense of using stationery to serve him an expulsion notice, it was not clear which party would have the 59-year-old next.

Nirupam has made it clear that he will not settle for anything less than the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat – at least that was his challenge to the Congress. With his electoral record at best patchy, the BJP and Shinde Shiv Sena, his apparent destinations, are yet to open their cards regarding Nirupam.

However, the former Mumbai Regional Congress president perhaps also knows that this is his last stand – with Mumbai the be all and end all of his politics.

A native of Rohtas in Bihar, Nirupam landed here back in the 1980s with the dream of a career in journalism. In 1986, he found a job in Jansatta, The Indian Express’s sister publication.

As luck would have it, the Shiv Sena under Bal Thackeray was looking to expand its base beyond its sons-of-the-soil plank at the time. It had realised the value of the migrant vote in a fast-changing Mumbai – an estimated 20% of the population by then comprised “North Indians”.

With this in mind, the Sena decided to focus on its tabloid Dopahar Ka Saamana, to be printed in Hindi, besides its Marathi daily Saamana. Somewhere in 1993, Nirupam was picked by Thackeray to lead this new publication.

Again, Nirupam had a stroke of luck as Mumbai saw several upheavals around this time, from the communal riots of 1992 to the serial bomb blasts of 1993. The Sena’s regional politics took on shades of Hindutva, bringing it closer to North India-centric BJP, and surging Nirupam’s value in the