Like all cities, Mumbai, the city of dreams, has evolved and transformed over the years. One notable phase of transformation happened in the last two decades of the previous century and the watershed event that triggered this change was a major labor strike that happened exactly four decades ago- in 1982- in the heart of the city.
It was also the
year in which I, a fresh commerce graduate, joined Raptakos, Brett & Co, a
company engaged in manufacturing pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, their
most popular product being Threptin biscuits. They had their office in Worli
back then, and part of the premises also had manufacturing facilities and we
would hear the siren going off every few hours usually notifying the change of
the shift to the workmen in the factory. This was a familiar sound not only in
Central Bombay (as it was called then) but also in vast portions of the entire
city. This was because Bombay was until then, predominantly a manufacturing hub
starting from the British era.
Just as I was
making the transition from being a college student to an office goer, Bombay
too was at the cusp of change. The
key events which were driving this change were unfolding around the place where
I started my career- Worli. It was part
of suburbs comprising Lalbaug, Parel, and other areas which were collectively
known as Girangaon (“mill village”). During its peak phase, the region had 130
mills and employed 300,000 workers. These mills were often the inspiration for
filmmakers who created stories around them. To cite one example, the 1973 Bollywood
movie, Namak Haram, starring the then superstar, Rajesh Khanna, and Amitabh
Bachchan, who would later dethrone him, was based on the theme of trade union
activism in the backdrop of Bombay’s textile mills. The mills had a high presence on other traditional
media channels as well. Some popular radio programs on Vividh Bharati every
Sunday afternoon (which was prime time then) were sponsored by textile mills-
Kohinoor Geet Gunjar by Kohinoor Mills and Cricket with Vijay Merchant which was
sponsored by Thackersey Group of Mills.
As the city ushered
in the new decade of the 80s, the fortunes of the textile mill owners started
declining. The mill workers were, however, distrustful of the owners,
suspecting that they were deliberately understating profits to deny them better
compensation. The stage was, therefore, set for a confrontation between the
two.
Tensions mounted
and ultimately led to the Bombay Textile strike of 1982 with Girangaon becoming
the epicenter of tumultuous events in the heart of the city.
Labor strikes in
the textile mills of Mumbai were not uncommon. But this was the “Mother of Labor
Strikes”. The workmen had brushed aside the Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (RMMS),
which was until then the representative of textile mill workers, and anointed
the prominent union leader, Dr. Datta Samant, to spearhead their attack against
the mill owners, who in their opinion, were deliberately denying them their
legitimate rights. The mill owners refused to yield to their demands claiming that
the profits of their mills were on the decline. The Government decided to turn
a deaf ear to the demands of the striking workers, fearing that Mumbai, much
like Kolkata, would fall into the clutches of trade unionists and this could
derail its growth as the prominent business hub of the country. Other political
leaders and trade unionists also did not lend much support to the agitation.
The labor strike, inevitably, collapsed and this triggered a paradigm shift in
the socio-economic fabric of the city. On the economic front, manufacturing activities
gradually declined with many business owners, including those who owned the
textile mills, moving their manufacturing facilities to more low-cost locations.
Favorable legislative changes facilitating redevelopment of the land of textile
mills for commercial purposes created opportunities for some of them to turn
into real estate developers. The skyline of the area was overtime dotted with
high-rise buildings housing swanky offices, bars, and restaurants. The term
Girangaon gradually went out of vogue.
The place in Worli where I started
my career four decades ago is now a site for the construction of a 30+ storied commercial
complex.
By the early
nineties, the services sector emerged as the dominant contributor to the
economy of the city. The sub-sectors which thrived most prominently were the
electronic media, the financial sector, and the aviation sector, all of which
were thrown open to the private sector. The city thus lost the tag of being an
industrial metropolis and grew in stature as the financial capital of the
country. Simultaneously, the composition of blue-collared workers dwindled.
Many displaced mill workers returned to their villages, particularly in the
Konkan region. The new age, private sector-owned companies in the services
sector recruited a new breed of white-collared workforce.
Subtle changes
surfaced in the language spoken in the city. The language of the common
Mumbaikar - “Bambiya Hindi” -gradually made way for the purer
form of Hindi as spoken in North India.
By the mid-nineties, the city was rechristened and acquired the moniker
of Mumbai.
Amidst all the
change, what has endured till today is the more than century-old tradition of
the ten-day long Ganesh festival and the strong sense of devotion of Mumbaikars
to Ganapati Bappa,
On a personal
level, I was fortunate that I could ride the tide of change and benefit from
it- switching within six months (in 1983) from the manufacturing sector to the
fast-growing financial services sector and joining India’s largest financial
institution, the State Bank of India. Much like many business owners who
relocated their production facilities outside Mumbai, I too shifted on transfer
to the more peaceful and health-friendly city of Pune, where I preferred to
settle down. Many of my fellow Mumbaikars, especially the mill workers, were
less fortunate and struggled to earn livelihoods in the evolving environment.
Even today, my
heart beats for the city where I was born and have spent half my life. I look
back at the phase of transition with mixed feelings while accepting that every
change brings joy to some and causes pain to others.
I recently made a
trip down memory lane and visited the iconic Siddhivinayak temple in the
erstwhile Girangaon area- at Prabhadevi- and offered prayers to Ganapati Bappa.
I exhorted the Vighnaharta to use all his mighty powers and remove the
obstacles in the lives of all his devotees and bless them with prosperity and
happiness in the decades ahead.
