'My candidate is Milind'

A fortnight ago, Jamal Mecklai endorsed through his regular column in Business Standard the candidature of Meera Sanyal, the banker, from the Mumbai South constituency. Here, Deepak Parekh, the well-known business and financial figure, argues why voters from the constituency should vote for the sitting MP from the Congress, Milind Deora.

India belongs to the youth and they have to play an active role in taking the country forward and pushing for change. I support continuity, stability, youth and especially educated youth in politics. And Milind Deora, the Congress candidate from Mumbai South constituency, represents that. He is qualified to take the country forward and I would like to see him back in Parliament.

Representing a constituency like Mumbai South is a tough task but Milind, whom I have known since he was in the kindergarten, has played an active role in Parliament. He has probably asked more questions in Parliament and participated in more debates than anyone else from Maharashtra. Be it the Right to Information Act or the 26/11 terror attacks, Milind has played an active role and has represented the constituency well.

For five years, he has fought for the cause of the constituency and wants to see further improvements over a period of time. He fought for the removal of the land ceiling law. He pushed hard for ensuring that adequate funding was made available for the city through the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. It was largely due to his efforts that Mumbai emerged as the largest recipient of funds from the scheme.

People talk of congestion, but we need national debates and a consensus on some of the issues in order to deal with that problem. For instance, the FSI (floor space index) requirement restricts buildings from going beyond a certain height. A city like New York does not have such restrictions.

Similarly, there are restrictions on reclaiming land. When I was a child, the land on which Cuffe Parade has come up, and the place where the Oberoi is built, were under the sea.

There is need for better transport linkages so that people can travel across the harbour to the mainland. This will reduce pressure on the island of Mumbai. We need to address these issues if we have to deal with congestion. These are national issues on which a consensus is needed and Milind will have to push these debates for the standard of living in the city to improve. Unless there is continuity, these objectives are unlikely to be met. You need to work on these issues for some time before solutions emerge.

If you look at the last general elections, there were so many independent candidates but only a few made it to the Lok Sabha. Even those who won were associated with a national party in the past and, when they were denied a ticket, they decided to contest as independent candidates. What we need is to vote for a national party in the national elections.