Mumbai, Apr 15 (IANS): The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) took a swipe at Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mumbai North Lok Sabha candidate and Union minister Piyush Goyal for displaying his abhorrence to the strong smell of fish while going around a Mumbai slum, here on Monday.
Congress General Secretary Sachin Sawant said that Goyal “couldn’t stand the smell of fish” when he passed through the fishing village and was seen walking around with a handkerchief to his nose.
NCP (SP) Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said that an MP is supposed to represent all sections of society, particularly the poor who form the backbone of Indian democracy and must be seen in public as a sensitive and sympathetic person.
On a campaigning spree, the usually dapper Goyal had gone around some humble slums of Borivali west suburb -- which has some fishers living and working -- and the vicinity emitted the stench of fish, a familiar atmosphere in many part of Mumbai North, and other coastal areas of the country’s commercial capital.
Unable to take a lungful, Goyal -- fighting his maiden LS election -- tied a handkerchief around his face, covered his nose and then tried walking around in the poor neighbourhood of Kolis, whose chief vocation is fishing in the Arabian Sea, as per his schedule.
“The Koli brothers-sisters are the original inhabitants of Mumbai. Goyal walked around with a handkerchief on his nose and cannot be representative of the poor people. Maybe now he wants to evict them to some other place,” said Sawant sharply.
Tapase felt that peoples' representatives must ideally not display such 'airs' in public, particularly when they are seeking the votes of the very same ordinary masses who can make or break a candidate's prospects.
Sawant added that Kolis and sea-food are a part and parcel of Mumbai culture, but after witnessing Goyal's behaviour the people of Mumbai North, especially shanty slum dwellers and fisher people will teach him a lesson ‘for displaying an insulting attitude towards the poor voters’.
Locals contended that many of the fishing folks and slum dwellers found Goyal’s actions offensive and even bordering on rude, which could serve to alienate them from the BJP nominee at the height of the electioneering.